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No Man’s Land – Season 1(2020) – Thrilling and Disturbing

30/08/2026/0 Comments/in Drama, Middle East, Spies and Spying, Syrian Civil War, Thriller, TV Series, War Movies, Woman centric/by Rammesh

Genre: Spy thriller cum war movie

Platform: Lionsgate Play thru Amazon (Paid)

Time: 8 episodes x average 45 minutes

Languages: English. French. Arabic. Kurdish

Cast: Félix Moati (Antoine Habert). Mélanie Thierry (Anna Habert). Souheila Yacoub (Sarya Dogan). James Krishna Floyd (Nasser Yassin). Jaouhar Ben Ayed (Iyad Bel Tagi). Dean Ridge (Paul Wilkins). James Purefoy (Stanley). Roda Canioglu (Commandant Adar). Julia Faure (Lorraine).

Plot: While visiting the hospital with his wife Lorraine, architect Antoine watches a news clip about Kurdish women fighters, fighting ISIS and is sure that he has seen his supposedly dead sister Melanie, when the video clip ends with an explosion. Antoine goes on a trip to Istanbul to visit Luke, an injured American in the video clip, which further takes him to the Syrian border and finally into Syrian heartland, in the middle of the Syrian Civil War. About to be ‘sold’ to ISIS soldiers, he is inadvertently rescued by the Kurdish female soldiers of the YPG who think he is also part of ISIS. Meanwhile three friends from Britain, Nasser, Iyad and Paul, join ISIS, due to a perceived ‘Islamophobia’ and “injustices’ in Britain. There is only one problem – Nasser has already been recruited by an intelligence officer known as Stanley who keeps popping up at regular intervals. Meanwhile Antoine meets Sarya, a Kurdish fighter; she is sure that Melanie is dead and asks him to return back to France which he refuses and goes with them on missions, determined to find out the truth about Melanie…

Its also clear from Nasser’s behavior that there is something very “off” about him as he is always watchful and cautious unlike his two friends who exult in the mayhem. I have already given a mild spoiler in that in Episode 3. Nasser, ex British Army and supposedly a British ISIS recruit, is already a spy for a man named Stanley whom he meets somewhere in no-man’s land and shares information about ISIS. (Don’t ask me how Nasser and Stanley escaped the regular ISIS patrols). There are some “are you kidding me” moments like these. Beyond that , its an absorbing thriller with some disturbing scenes in the ISIS segments.

The beauty of the series lies in the fact that like every good or great story, this is a quest. It’s about Antoine’s quest for the truth behind Melanie’s death. She was an archaeologist who had an Iranian boyfriend activist who was deported back to Iran and executed. She was supposedly blown up in a car bomb in Cairo due to her anti Iran activism. Antoine refuses to let go of this and keep digging more and more, while watching the brave Kurdish women fight off the ISIS who think they won’t attain paradise if they are killed by a woman! The women have much more to lose than anyone and so fight fiercely. The switches between Antoine’s quest, Nasser’s actions, the ISIS depredations (very disturbing), and the parallel stories that they generate are very interesting as we want to know what happened to Melanie and what is happening to the Kurdish women who have sworn to fight to death.

Spoilers: This series is NOT an easy watch as Episodes 3 and 4 deal with the ISIS depredations. Be warned, that though there is nothing graphic the sound effects, the actions and the dialogues make it clear what’s happening onscreen. All the more reason that the YPG women fight to the death. However, from Episodes 5 onwards, it more or less becomes a pure spy series as we learn about Melanie, Stanley, Nasser and how their fates are intertwined with each other. Iyad has become kill-happy while Paul is sure that there is something wrong with Nasser, as he has seen a change in his behavior.

Both Season 1 and Season 2 are available on Lionsgate Play (through Amazon Prime) and just for this series, I have subscribed to it. The night scenes are at times too dark and they give the required effect of dread.

If you want to watch a well-made series embedded in the brutality of the Syrian Civil War, the ISIS brutalities and all that centers around it, then this makes an equally disturbing and thrilling watch, due to the accurate historical backgrounds.

Historical background – 4 out of 5

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 4 out of 5

No comments

The Seven Samurai (1954) – and its Indian inspirations.

23/08/2026/6 Comments/in Classic, One story two films, Remake/by Rammesh

7–11 minutes

This is my 200th Post since November 2022 . I have been steadily posting every sunday and I wanted something special and chose the classic The Seven Samurai

Clickable Links in red

It can be argued that Akira Kurosawa’s film The Seven Samurai is highly influential worldwide as it put post WW2 Japan on the world cinema map. At the same time, Japan continued its string of ‘regular Japanese masala films’, like Godzilla – originally titled Gojira (1954) – continued and that too put Japanese cinema on the world cinema map.

The Seven Samurai has been exceptionally influential worldwide. The concept of a small town / village hiring mercenaries to defend itself against the depredations of local bandits who regularly harass them, proved cinematic gold. Hollywood made the first adaptation, which was virtually a copy-paste with localization into the Western genre. The Magnificent Seven (1960) gave ample scope for the employment of the disparate group of mercenaries, each with his own special skill. Even the young idealistic Samurai, who joins the experienced warriors, was copied as the young gunman, played by first time actor Horst Bucholz, who joins them. The same film was remade in 2016 but the original was the original. Return of the Seven (1966) with only Yul Brynner from the original cast, as the leader, proved that the magic of the original will always remain the original and any follow up would pale in comparison , which is what happened. The Wikipedia page of Akira Kurosawa cites some 10 worldwide inspirations and only 1 Indian inspiration, which only means that you can rely on Wiki only so much :). By my count there are at least 4 Hindi film inspirations and probably more that I am unaware of in other Indian languages. A google search ridiculously mentions Tamil film Thalapathi(1991) as one among many inspirations, while everyone who has seen the film knows that its a modern twist on the Karna-Arjun story from Mahabharat..

Except for Sholay, the other films are all available on You Tube. So, here’s my take on the inspirations that adhere to the formula “village hiring mercenaries to save itself from cruel dacoits”:

Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) – or One Samurai!

Casual criminal Ajit (Dharmendra) is hired by ex-Army soldier turned villager Jaswant (Jayant) to defend a village against a dreaded dacoit Jabbar (Vinod Khanna). After the initial false starts, Ajit soon starts liking village life to the extent of falling in love with a local lass Anju (Asha Parekh). Things turn a bit complicated when Jabbar’s mistress and nautch girl Munnibai (Laxmi Chaya) also starts liking Ajit and wants to wean him away from Anju.

Raj Khosla’s reputation as a “hit film maker” solidified with this film which was a perfect masala of story, action, dialogues, songs and charismatic main characters played by equally charismatic lead actors. Vinod Khanna’s reputation shot up after his role as Jabbar. Dharmendra was already on a roll as a bankable action star and so too Asha Parekh as a dependable leading lady. What’s unusual is that Laxmi Chhaya also got equal if not more footage as the semi vampish woman who finally sides with Ajit and naturally pays the cinematic price for doing so. The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal delivered one memorable song after another and what’s unusual is that Laxmi Chhaya, the vamp, had three songs picturised on her: “Aaya aaya atariya pe koi chor”, “Hai sharmaun kis kisko bataun” and the most famous of them all ‘Maar diya jaaye ke chhod diya jaaye”. What’s also unusual is that Lata Mangeshkar sang all the three songs for the vamp and also two for the lead heroine – the solo ‘Sona le jaa re” and the superb duet with Mohammed Rafi “Kuch kehta hai ye sawan” which hovers around six notes. The film preceded Sholay by a full four years and was a huge hit. The villages around Udaipur added to the authenticity of the rustic tale of one village against dacoits.

Watching it a few years ago on You Tube, I was struck by the fact that it still seemed fresh – if one doesnt unnecessarily compare with today’s films and understands the times in which it was made. (That applies to all the films discussed below)

My Rating – 4/5

Khotey Sikkey (1974) – or Five (and a half) Samurai meets The Man with No Name.

This is a clever mix of For a Few Dollars More and The Seven Samurai. Here it is dreaded local dacoit Janga (Ajit) and his depredations for which one of the villages sends Ramu (Paintal) to bring his cousin brother Jaggu (Narendranath) back to the village along with his friends Danny (Danny Denzongpa), Bhaggu (Sudhir), Salim (Ranjeet) , a wrestler and his midget friend. They soon encounter a lone man on a horseback (Feroze Khan), always dressed in black and whose name no one knows . Soon the six (and a half) band together to defend the village against Janga.

While the Seven Samurai part is clear, the Dollars part becomes even more in the segments dealing with Feroze Khan and his quest to take on Janga alone. The ticking musical watch that serves as the start of the killing of a police informant and in the long drawn out climatic fight between the duo – all these are a straight copy-paste from For a Few Dollars More.

The digressions and localisation are in the shape of Danny bringing his city girlfriend Reeta (Alka) to the village, a courtesan Paro (Rehana Sultan) being courted by the Man with No Name, Jaggu slowly liking the much-harassed widow Madhu (Madhu Chanda), Bhaggu the inveterate womaniser and the five goons being a mix of religions and communities. They are the ‘khotey sikkey’ – the fake coins – of the title that ultimately prove to be the ‘true’ coins. Writer Director Narinder Bedi does an excellent job and the overall action and plot is very much in keeping with the ethos and story of The Seven Samurai. In such a film, music can be a double-edged weapon as none of the main ‘Samurai’ can be seen singing. So, it is left to the horseback rider’s father singing in a flashback, Jeevan me tu darna nahi, which he sings to the village children and recurs as a refrain from time to time. Since Paro is a courtesan, she does the obligatory mujra number, Pyaari pyaari suratwaale. It might feel slightly kitschy but that is true for most films made in the 1960s and 1970s.

This is as enjoyable as they come even if it feels tacky at times.

My rating – 4/5

Sholay (1975) – or Two Samurai.

There is nothing much that can added to the classic and it still remains a perfect masala film with an equal share of comedy, tragedy, action, emotion and music. The recent release of the restored version with the original ending of Thakur killing Gabbar Singh , and its immediate aftermath of Thakur weeping as he has lost his life purpose, is far more powerful , than the original limp ending of Gabbar being led away by the police which was under political pressure about ‘law and order forces should be seen to triumph’ . That kind of dogma would soon be upended by a series of films where the main character would have shades of grey . As someone said, Hindi Film Industry can be divided into two eras – Before Sholay and After Sholay.

Both Amazon Prime and Jio Hotstar have the prints with “original” ending of Gabbar being handed over to the police!

My rating – 5/5

China Gate (1998) – or Seven “Old” Samurai 😊.

China Gate is the ONLY film that I know of where at the start of the film, there is a tribute to Akira Kurosawa and his film The Seven Samurai. Given this tribute, this film is a nice twist on the “Seven Samurai Universe” in that they are not mercenaries but seven ex-Army soldiers who had been cashiered/ court martialed for a critical anti terrorist operation that went wrong. All of them have been branded as cowards and their court case was also thrown out. The seven are old, surviving on odd jobs, facing private humiliation, generally past their best. Their old C.O. Colonel Krishnakant Puri (Om Puri) has faith in them, but the old men are not so sure. They are at the village to combat Jageera (Mukesh Tiwari) under the invitation of Sandhya (Mamta Kulkarni) whose father and Puri had been friends. There is also a would-be Samurai, a young runaway who wants to join the Army and thinks that being with the Samurai will teach him how to do it – this fulfils the original “young fresh samurai” formula.

Rajkumar Santoshi’s tribute is well made and has superb action sequences with the ‘old’ Samurai doing what they do best. There is a localization with a corrupt cop (Paresh Rawal) demanding that the seven show their arms licenses and generally trying to be obstructive. He is even friendly with Jagira and wonders out aloud “Better to be friends with them ; who knows tomorrow they may end up as politicians”. There is also the Hindu-Muslim tension in the form of the long feud between Colonel Keval Puri (Amrish Puri) and Major Sarfaraz Khan (Naseeruddin Shah). Depending on how one sees it, it’s a bit of fun to see the ‘old timers’ saving the village from the dreaded dacoit. Musically the number ‘Chamma Chamma’ for a special dance number by Urmila Matondkar, was a chartbuster. The posters and promos were all of her in the song costume while she was there only for the song. There were some rumors / press reports that the ‘heroine’ Mamta Kulkarni was upset at the director for not including her in the promos.

I didnt want to see it as I was sure it would be a disaster. Yet I saw it on the last day last show (9:30 pm) at Metro cinema in 1999. I wasnt sorry that I saw it and enjoyed it. Even Jageera was good and suitably nasty.

My rating – 4/5

In summary, these four Hindi make the grade perfectly. If there are any films in other languages that fulfill the ‘formula”, do share.

What’s your take on these Seven Samurai clones? Do you know of any other films that STRICTLY follows the “mercenaries hired by a village/ city” formula? Share your thoughts and do write in.

6 responses to “The Seven Samurai (1954) – and its Indian inspirations.”

Siddhesh Raut

23/08/2026

A massive and really inspiring achievement! You now have an archive that people can trust to get the best of the best in your unique niche. Can I just say that your enthusiasm and detailed is so contagious and fun. You really engage with details in a way that makes your work authoritative, and fun too. It reminds of a tidbit around how a lot of archeaological/heritage work in India was done by enthusiastic government teachers who took out their bicycle to explore the countryside. I meaningful way to live if anything. Congrats and keep at it! :D

WRT the post: I really enjoyed Seven Samurai, and coincidently was going to watch Rashomon this week too.

Reply
Rajendra Chittar

23/08/2026

Fantastic and Nostalgic – back to school days!

Lovely to read about the details which are hazy after decades.

One possible entry could be Kaala Sona – Feroz and Danny – a kind of two Samurai with 2 girlfriends. But my memory is vague.

There was also a film called Saat Hindustani (Amitabh?).

Anyway, great article. Keep it going. All the best.

Reply
Robin Bhat

23/08/2026

Hi Rammesh,

Congratulations on your post ! In this world of forgettable/depressing/inconsequential news, they are certainly something to look forward to you! Adds a bit of mirch-masala to the week.
—

“The concept of a small town / village hiring mercenaries to defend itself against the depredations of local bandits who regularly harass them” – Hindi/Indian films

Have to think of this some more..but does ‘Ramgarh Ke Sholay’ count? I have not yet dared to view this film!
__

Cheers…

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  23/08/2026
  
  🤣🤣 Ramgarh ke Sholay and RGV ki aag . Now why didnt I think of those 🤣🤣
  
  KVR
  
  Reply
Gowri

24/08/2026

Congratulations on hitting 200 posts! Hats off to your consistency. I haven’t watched the original Seven Samurai and your post has convinced me to correct that at the earliest.

Of the Indian adaptations, I’ve watched Sholay and China Gate, and the latter has weirdly been one of my favourite movies to rewatch. I think Jageera as a villain is a bit overblown but everything else works well for me, including the lovely Alsation dog that Amrish Puri’s character has a problem with until the end, where he takes on his care. :D

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  24/08/2026
  
  Hi Gowri
  
  Thanks. Jageera has to be overblown, given that there would be comparison with other “iconic” (how I hate that word for being overused) villains like Gabbar SIngh, Mogambo and so on.
  
  As for the original, once you watch it, I am sure you will feel these are but pale imitations. Its available on You Tube but you the auto translate leaves much to be desired !
  
  KVR
  
  Reply

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Operation Safed Sagar (2026) – Restrained historical drama

16/08/2026/11 Comments/in Air Warfare, Hindi War Films, Indian War FIlms, TV Series/by Rammesh

6–9 minutes

Genre: Indian War Movie (TV series)

Platform: Netflix

Time: 6 episodes x average 55 minutes

Cast: Siddharth (Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja). Jimmy Shergill (Wing Commander ‘Tony’ Dhanoa). Adil Hussain (Air Marshal Vinod Patney). Abhay Verma (Flying Officer Rajpal Singh Dhaliwal a.k.a. Dhali). Mihir Ahuja (Flying Officer C.H. Bal Reddy a.k.a. Baldy). K.C Shankar (Squadron leader Alok Choudhury aka Chou). Amrita Bagchi (Alka Ahuja). Dia Mirza (Kamalpreet Dhanoa). Prajakta Koli (Madhavi Reddy). Manu Rishi Chadha (General Pervez Musharraf). Vinay Pathak (PM Nawaz Sharif). Anjan Srivastava (PM A.B.Vajpayee)

Plot: In 1999, the forward posts of the Indian Army near the Line of Control (LoC) which are vacated during the harsh winter, are occupied by the Pakistani Army. The order to evict them results in the first ‘televised war’, with journalists from news channels vying for attention while reporting on the heroism of the Army soldiers. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force is grappling with problems for its own counter strike preparations , codenamed Operation Safed Sagar,. They have lost two pilots, one of whom is returned safely while the other is tortured and executed. Demands from the Army for air support results in some innovative solutions to bomb the Pakistani occupied Indian posts resulting in the status quo.

Border (1997) and Border 2 (2026) are the benchmarks for a “successful war movie”, as they are filled with hyper action , multiple explosions and screaming dialogues against Pakistan. From that point alone Operation Safed Sagar (hereafter OSS) compares like a slow-moving art film, thanks to the meticulous attention to detail and minutiae of the overall war from the Air Force’s view. Being an Air Force story, the full cooperation of the Indian Air Force was given including access to air force bases, coaches and consultants for the actors to emulate the air force way of life. The Air Force is thanked at the beginning of each episode

Thanks to the overall restrained writing, there is no need for any screaming matches, nor do the pilots indulge in taunts with the enemy as shown in Border 2. And why should they? They would be too busy doing their multiple tasks while flying at near supersonic speeds. So those who are expecting screaming and shouting a la Border, forget it. This is not for you.

Those who want a well-researched, true to history drama, with the obligatory emotional moments and even somewhat predictable sequences, this is for you! Well worth your 6 hours.

For those unfamiliar with what happened, here’s a quick history lesson (those who know this part, can skip to the next para). Indian Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee took a historical bus ride to Lahore to be met by his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Unknown to the Pakistani PM, his Army Chief General Parvez Musharraf was planning an operation to occupy the Indian posts vacated during winter, presenting India and the world with a fait accompli. India hopefully won’t do anything to counter this embarrassment and soon Kashmir will be under Pakistani control, as these Indian posts overlook the critical Srinagar-Leh highway. Contrary to this convoluted Pakistani logic, India responded with full military force. After (nearly) 3 months of bloody fighting where Indian officers led from the front, resulting in a high officer casualty rate, the “intruders”, who were actually regular Pakistani Army personnel but were projected as “mujahedeen”, were evicted from the posts. The LoC was restored to the same status. The Indian Air Force played a huge part in demolishing these posts, after lots of trials and tribulations, and in a truly innovative spirit of ‘jugaad’, using the machines beyond their designed limits. Two Indian Migs (1 x Mig 21, 1 x Mig 27) were shot down with the pilot of the Mig 21, Ajay Ahuja, being tortured and killed. The Mig 27 pilot was returned unharmed. About 550 Indian Army soldiers lost their lives with twice that number injured. Pakistan was not condemned for any of this and on the contrary, Musharraf seized power in a military coup three months later. Pakistan did not acknowledge they were Pakistan Army regulars until much later, when the highest military medal Nishan e Haidar, were given to Captain Karnal Sher Khan and Havildar Lalak Jan, both from 12th Northern Light Infantry. Karnal Sher Khan’s award was based on a letter kept in the dead Captain’s pocket by Indian Brigadier M. P. S. Bajwa, praising Khan’s valor and leadership.

So, how is the overall story arc of the series? Very good, though the switch to the Pakistani side showing Sharif being hounded by Musharraf, takes away from the focus on the Indian Air Force officers trying to find a solution to the problems. At times, the real clips of the events are shown to highlight all the diplomatic, civil and military happenings. The (onscreen) Air Force officers speak of the problems encountered in high altitude warfare – different performance of weapons in the high altitude due to lesser air density, since most weapons are “geared” for low to medium altitudes. The persistent efforts to do “jugaad” are also explained for the audience as conversations between Air Force officers.

Top Gun and other Western air combat films have made the standard air warfare film templates, that are adhered to in OSS but in a milder way. A gung-ho pilot (Dhali). A pilot with repeated personal problems (Baldy). The restrained C.O (Tony). The innovative out of box solutions brought by the new officer (Ahuja). The overall C.O who has to manage his Air Warriors chafing for action (Patney). The standard “woman supporting at home” template that is normal in most Indian war films. Baldy is worried about his girlfriend Pooja who has run away from home and lands up at his airbase. The “problems” are fairly cliched and stereotyped and can be overlooked , as many Indian war films show similar cliches but they do take the attention away from the warriors. All the performances are remarkably restrained but a special mention about Vinay Pathak as the somewhat clueless Nawaz Sharif , consistently outsmarted by his Army Chief Musharraf played remarkably creepy by Manu Rishi Chaddha. Also equally creepy is veteran S.M.Zahir (people may remember him from Hum Log) as Nawaz Sharif’s father, Abbaji. Jimmy Shergill is always good as the restrained C.O. of the Golden Arrows, managing his team of fresh and experienced pilots. At the end of episode 6, all the real pilots and their future lives are briefly shown, with ‘Tony’ Dhanoa becoming the Air Force Chief.

Visual Fx: The real world aircraft such as Mig 21, Mig 27, Canberra, used in OSS, have been retired from service while the Mirage 2000 (shown briefly) and Jaguars (not shown in the series), still soldier on. So its a given that VFX has to be the main resource for the flying sequences. For the Mig 21s, it’s a mix of real-world action and VFX. Check out the below pics.

The ground shots of the Mig 21s take off

and landing , as above, are real . Shot probably at Nal Air Force base, Gujarat (judging by the background terrain). Nal, Chandigarh , Gwalior are credited in the beginning of each episode.

while the air to air of the MIg 21

and the air to ground attack shots of the Mig 21 and Mig 27s are VFX

The VFX varies from excellent (especially the Mig 27) to the meh level, latter in the mass formation shots, with combat planes flipping in somewhat impossible flights.

There are some minor goofs such as Stinger missiles being mentioned and the Anza, shown on the missile launcher (Anza being a Pakistani copy/ clone of the Russian SA7 Grail) and the Mig 21s moving as if they have modern thrust vectoring. It was an Anza that actually brought down Ahuja’s Mig 21 and not a Stinger.

The ground level action is also fairly okay as the emphasis is not on the Army but on the Air Force. As for the obligatory Pakistan bashing, it is not even required as Pakistan’s actions during the war, such as not acknowledging their own troops, to the extent of denying a funeral for its martyred regular soldiers, shows their mentality and fanaticism.

I would like to say more about the serial but then it would spoil your viewing pleasure. This is a restrained yet truthful TV series, with the obligatory dose of drama and masala which can be ignored if you focus on the overall story arc, which is faithful to the overall historical happenings. 6 hours well spent and a wonderful tribute to the Indian Air Force and its Operation Safed Sagar

Real History / Historical Background – 5 out of 5

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

VFX – 3 out of 5

Total – 4 out of 5

11 responses to “Operation Safed Sagar (2026) – Restrained historical drama”

Dorai

16/08/2026

Agree whole heartedly with you Mr Rammesh.. a very well made series and I would actually gloss over the vfx part since we are still concentrating on paying actors more than spending money on the film’s screenplays. As you said, the historical facts of the movie are really good and creative liberty has to be taken to fill in the gaps.. minute to minute history can’t be replicated. getting a 4/5 from you speaks volumes of the series. A must see for those who haven’t yet.

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  16/08/2026
  
  K.V. Ramesh
  10:29 AM (0 minutes ago)
  to dorai
  
  Dear SIr
  
  Thank you for your kind words. Its one of the few , the VERY few, Indian series or films with an Armed Forces background, that shows professionals at work and not “dialogue baazi”.
  
  Now. If only we could do something similar for the Navy ;)
  
  Regards
  
  KVR
  
  Reply
Siddhesh Raut

16/08/2026

I am always prejudiced against the quality of any films and shows coming out of India. But thanks to you, KV, I am happy to know that there are occassional glimmers of hope. Thanks for your detailed review. I look forward to watching this.

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  16/08/2026
  
  Siddhesh
  
  Thanks . It is one TV series I was looking forward to and praying that it wouldn’t be ruined by foaming at the mouth dialogues and screaming and shouting. Glad to see that it was not. As for the planes and details, thats just the military nerd talking :) – you can safely ignore that and focus on the overall story.
  
  KVR
  
  Reply
Robin Bhat

16/08/2026

Hi Rammesh,

A simply superb write-up; I will starting watching the series this evening.

A side adjacent comment on Indian VFX/CGI studios. Jaw-dropping, exhilarating and beyond state-of-the-art work products! I watch all films till the very last frame, for one main reason – enjoy reading the almost-endless list of Indian names.

Sometimes, such as in the 2025 ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, Indian names dominate the end-credit rolls.

More detail, in case of interest:

(AI-generated)

“India is a global powerhouse for visual effects (VFX) and animation, hosting major international studios and massive domestic operations. Top studios include Prime Focus (known for Avatar), DNEG India (Oscar-winning work on Dune and Tenet), Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies VFX (Ra.One, Brahmastra), MPC India (The Lion King), and PhantomFX (Pushpa).

Major Global and Domestic Players
• DNEG: Operates massive hubs in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune, contributing heavily to top-tier Hollywood feature films and streaming projects.

• Prime Focus: A pioneering global giant headquartered in Mumbai offering end-to-end creative services, stereo 3D conversion, and visual effects.

• Red Chillies VFX: The premier Bollywood-centric studio delivering high-end CGI and visual wizardry for major Indian cinematic blockbusters.

• MPC & Technicolor India: Bengaluru and Mumbai locations support hyper-realistic creature design and environment rendering for major international studio tentpoles.

• Phantom Digital Effects (PhantomFX): Based in Chennai with global reach, renowned for seamless compositing and effects work on major regional and international action titles.

—
Regards,

Robin

Reply
Ravi

16/08/2026

Liked your review – but do not agree to your remark ‘ women supporting at home’. The series showed the cantonment life very well. The houses were spot on, the way junior officers will land up at your house unannounced late in the night for drinks and dinner – and the lady of the house no matter the time – hustle up something. The dresses of the women was spot on – from sarees to salwar kameez to jeans.
One more aspect about the conversations being more English and less of Hindi,

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  16/08/2026
  
  Hi Ravi
  
  Agree to all your explanations but a small explanation from my side .
  
  Based on my years of watching Indian war movies , they mostly show women only at “the home front” and hence my term ‘supporting at home’. Fighter and Operation Valentine showed women in combat roles but the less said about Fighter, the better:) .
  
  KVR
  
  Reply
Robin Bhat

20/08/2026

Hi Rammesh,

I completed viewing ‘Operation Safed Sagar’ and also read the two Kargil chapters from Arjun Subramaniam’s ‘Full Spectrum: India’s Wars, 1972-2020’, to get at least a high-level understanding of the conflict.

Summary – a well-made show, probably the only one to be dedicated to the heroes of the Kargil air-war. A solid, sincere attempt to narrate the general history, with credible actors, deep research, and outstanding Visual FX.

Some off-hand – and probably debatable comments:

1
Overall, a fairly faithful adherence of the script to the actual events, in the larger sense.

2
Some scenes maybe overdramatized and ‘inspired’ from the two ‘Top Gun’ films –
1. Pilot shown losing his cool one times too many because his friend was brutally KIA.
2. The bombing range practice runs.
3. (And these compromised by GPS jamming from high-altitude American spy satellites? Really!)
4. At the risk of losing a segment of the audience, maybe too much screen-time for the ladies, kids, etc.
5. Instead maybe, and even if not directly tied to OSS, some screen time could have been devoted to “Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, the pioneering Indian Air Force pilot who made history as the first woman to fly in a combat zone during the 1999 Kargil War. Operating a Cheetah helicopter under enemy fire, she evacuated over 900 injured soldiers and earned the moniker “The Kargil Girl””. (Currently viewing her biopic, acted by Janhvi Kapoor)

3
Though we will never know the actual facts, I thought the Musharraf/Sharif/Daddy Sharif scenes were near-comedic –

With that fox-that-swallowed-the-chicken tight smirk, Mush dismisses Nawaz-miyan with simply one-or-two sentence nehle-pe-delha style lines.

And if Nawaz is still unsure, Abba Sharif closes the deal with just a severe stare and/or a one-sentence warning to his son.

Musharraf good at delivering a proverb to a two-man Chinese delegation in Beijing, and taking it on the chin when they strike back with a one-liner on a frog in a well. Ha ha ha !

(and somehow, Nawaz-miyan does not raise this treachery till weeks later? One would think President Zemin would have been on the phone with him the same day)

4
What could have been highlighted instead, as a post-script at the end:
“.. in his book ‘In The Line of Fire’, Musharraf all but disowned the operation despite being its principal orchestrator. His reluctance to write about the major battles in the Kargil conflict and highlight conspicuous acts of individual gallantry reveals a clear unwillingness to claim ownership of the conflict as the leader who put his men in the line of fire.”

What a wretched, lying, traitorous coward!

5
Most importantly, I am surprised (or maybe missed it entirely), this was not included in the series, even if it was not directly related to OSS. Quoting from the book:

“As the war progressed, there was a greater need for the IAF to support operations in the Batalik Sector. To do this, it committed significant reconnaissance efforts to identify the major logistics hub for sustaining Pakistani posts in the area. One such hub was the Munthadalo logistics camp, which had grown from eight to ten fabricated tents to about fifty to sixty igloo tents by mid-June. Following a dummy run in a trainer with Litening pods to exactly locate the camp the previous day, on June 17 (1999) six Mirages of 7 Squadron dropped thrity-six-250 kg bombs on this camp – one of the most impactful air attacks of the campaign. The sprawling hub was razed to the ground. This effectively choked Pakistani supplies to the Batalik and Kaksar sectors, thereby sealing the fate of all their posts there.

This strike was followed closely by the MIG-27 strikes at Kukarthang, which turned out to be a fuel-supply dump that was seen smoking for days.

General Malik (Army Chief) acknowledges the impact of air power in the Batalik sector and reckons that IAF pilots would not have been able to carry out their attacks *without crossing the LoC*. A senior Mirage-2000 pilot admits that it did happen several times, particularly during air defense escort missions’.

(Glad to know that such self-imposed shackles were cast off during ‘Operation Sindoor.’ An LoC or International Border (IB) is inviolate only as long as the line is not crossed. Once it is, it is an act of war and needs an equal-or-greater response. If anything, Kargil proved for the first (?) time that two nuclear nations could engage in limited, conventional warfare,

6
Lastly, perhaps less time could have been spent showing the fainting, morose pilot, and maybe a couple of frames on Operation Talwar – the Indian Navy’s aggressive deployment in the northern Arabian sea to – if ordered so – impose a blockade of Karachi, and with it, the logistical supply chain going to the mountains.

7
As a post-script, Pervez Musharraf had the last laugh – ousted Nawaz Sharif precisely over the public clamor of their Kargil ‘misadventure’, and in a few short years, had another American President eating out of his hands – virtually unlimited arms and treasure to Pakistan, to ‘fight the Taliban’, post 9/11. That ruse worked at least for a few years.

(now waiting to get schooled by you on all logical/historical assertions above) 😊

—
Warm regards,

Robin

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  22/08/2026
  
  Hi Robin
  
  1. On point n0.5 – Gunjan Saxena . She was SAR – Search and Rescue , in itself a form of combat operations but it is not part of the overall effort to bomb the hell out of the Pakistani posts. So it was unnecessary . Good luck with your viewing of Kargil Girl; my comments in my book were very moderate. Today I would be more pithy, after seeing Jahnvi’s mono expressions in movies where she was the lead actress.
  
  2. The Musharraf/ Abbaji/ Sharif scenes were surely written with an idea to show how perfidious the whole bunch was and so I will leave it at that.
  
  3. Again on Operation Talwar. No screen time possible as it was all about the Air Force efforts which had a direct impact on the overall Army ops.
  
  4. I want to quote a friend (with whom I have since fallen out) about Pakistan’s fleet footed behaviour towards the US “The Americans are so far up the Pakistani ass that any shit the Pakistanis give them is taken as the whole truth only because it serves the American purpose of treating India with its usual historical disdain, as India never bowed to it and was peripherally in the Soviet orbit”, the latter said with his disgust about the Soviet Union. I think that was probably the best ever comment on the US-India-Pakistan relationship tangle. These days, finally. the US has managed to treat India with disdain (but thats a whole different discussion and lets leave it at that).
  
  KVR
  
  Reply
Sanjay

21/08/2026

Finished watching OSS last night. Was restricted to watching only 1 episode per night because of wife’s duty hours. While I’m no expert on military hardware or VFX, their explanation on various jugaad like dropping bombs from 30K feet to be out of Stinger range, or placing laser guided old bombs on Mirages we were able to understand.

The story was told well, with all the right emotions and pacing. And as you’ve rightly said, it didn’t have the Bollywoodian hyperbole.

Didn’t read your review until now. Was afraid there could be spoilers. And there was. It was only after Ahuja is killed that we remembered it was in the news in 1999, while you mention it here. No sweat.
All in all, an enjoyable show.

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  22/08/2026
  
  Hi Sanjay
  
  Ahuja being killed was national news at that time and the whole nation was in an uproar because he had been tortured and killed. SO too all the Army personnel who were killed in the initial days, especially Lt. Saurav Kalia whose father is still fighting for justice to treat Pakistan as a war criminal. Sadly , nothing on that till date . I will leave it at that and not go into an anti-Pakistan diatribe ; as one commentator said , Pakistan exists only because India exists – an external enemy to blame for all its internal failings. Somewhat like “foreign hands” being blamed in India for all our domestic failings; the foreign hand goes back to Congress days :)
  
  KVR
  
  Reply

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The Undeclared war (2026) – Season 2 – More absorbing (than S1)

09/08/2026/0 Comments/in Chinese Spies, NEW Cold War, Spies and Spying, Thriller, TV Series, Woman centric/by Rammesh

Clickable links in red

3–5 minutes

Genre: Spy Thriller

Platform: Jio Hotstar

Time: 6 episodes x average 48 minutes

Cast: Simon Pegg (Danny Patrick). Sian Brooke (Barbara Napier). German Segal (Vadim Trusov). Danny Sapani (Charles Francis). Cloe Pirrie (Lt.Col. Roz Cavendish). Jason Tobin (Nicky Chan). Hannah Khalique-Brown (Saara Parvin). Ed Stoppard (Foreign Secretary Richard Marston).

Plot: Danny is now on an almost non-stop treadmill of preventing Russian cyber-attacks against the UK civil and military infrastructure. His wife Barbara, ex MI6, is also in GCHQ in the East Asian (read Chinese) linguistics department. Multiple leaks of data point to an obvious mole at GCHQ. Meanwhile Vadim who had vanished, gets in touch with Saara and states that he is in China, along with fellow Russian hackers, planning an even bigger attack against UK, the seeds of which are already there as some innocent garbage in the earlier codes. Given that Danny is advocating caution, Foreign Secretary Marston sends an Army cyber warfare team headed by Lt. Col. Cavendish to oversee an aggressive response …

WARNING : MILD SPOILERS (shouldn’t still prevent you from watching the series😊)

Season 1 ended on a note where it was clear that Vadim is out there and Saara desperately wants to contact him (check out my take on Season 1 here ) Season 2 makes it clear why – Vadim gets in touch with Saara through a commercial videogame chat box and announces his presence in China along with fellow Russian hackers. That in itself is a giveaway that “more the merrier” seems to be the approach of the writers. You already have Russia as a suspect. So why not add China too? Thankfully the Chinese puppet North Korea didn’t make an appearance 😊.

There is a somewhat masala feeling about the series in that various strands are added one after the other. In episode 1, Barbara’s relationship with the Chinese ‘dissident’ Nicky Chan is revealed and anyone who follows any kind of spy serial will surely guess that this is NOT going to be what it seems and that is exactly what happens. By episode 2, it is clear that Barbara has been truly and well trapped by Chan who is an MSS operative, who had played the long game – pretending to be a Chinese dissident in the democracy movement in Hong Kong while secretly sharing all the information with his MSS masters. This is an excellent view of how the Chinese play ‘the long game’ in real life; one hears of Russian spies being caught regularly while there is hardly any information on Chinese spies being caught.

Back to the serial. There are some huge ‘are you kidding me’ moments and the biggest one is how Vadim escapes from the airtight security of the Chinese apartment because his Chinese handler is a secret pro-democracy dissident! Really? What follows however shows how the oppressive surveillance in China takes a toll on friends and family and how “maintaining good social credit” is a big thing in China – anything not sanctioned by the Government and your social credit comes down with one being unable to travel or sometimes even buy daily groceries. Check out this wiki link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit_system

That said, there is enough masala in the series to keep everyone engrossed . Mostly the “what will happen to Barbara” angle is the one that takes up more time as she literally is forced to do tasks ordered by Nicky Chan while Danny soon notices changes in her behavior. This part plays out extremely well as it’s a classic long term espionage trap practiced by any intelligence agency. This is the angle that keeps us interested through the series and we feel for both Danny and Barbara, each knowing that the other can’t take the deceptions.

There is also the subplot about the shitty Foreign Secretary who wants his own purely Army team inside GCHQ but that too soon takes an interesting turn as they start working along with GCHQ after the initial chill vibes. Saara Parvin is relegated to a minor character and this series is all about Danny and Barbara.

Like I said, there is enough masala to keep you interested and since its only 6 episodes, it moves at an even pace to its final conclusion. You can overlook the somewhat ‘are you kidding me’ moments to do with Vadim and focus on the rest of the story which is top notch.

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 4 out of 5

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Secret Service (2026) – Superb

02/08/2026/5 Comments/in Book to Film, NEW Cold War, Spies and Spying, Thriller, TV Series, Woman centric/by Rammesh

Genre: Spy Thriller

Platform: Amazon Prime – paid (thru BBC Player)

Time: 5 episodes x average 45 minutes

Cast: Gemma Arterton (Kate Henderson). Rafe Spall (Stuart Henderson). Alex Kingston (Rose Trewen). Galaxie Clear (Fiona Henderson). Avi Nash (Ravindra “Rav” Sangvhi). Mark Stanley (Ryan Walker, MP and Foreign Secretary). Alexander Terentyev (Sergei Malinski, SVR operative).

Plot: Kate Henderson is an SIS officer tasked with surveillance of a Russian Oligarch Mikhail Borodin who finances SVR operations. Kate persuades Lena, Borodin’s nanny to bug Borodin’s yatch in Malta, in exchange for political asylum for her and her brother. She and her colleague Avi hear Borodin and SVR officer Sergei. discuss the upcoming resignation of the Prime Minister due to health reasons. When the PM’s resignation resignation is announced, the duo are sure that there is a high level Mole in the Cabinet or somewhere in the higher offices of the Government…

Right from the word go, the series is superb and taut, with hardly any time wasted on establishing the characters. She is an MI6 officer and that means that half the time she cant talk about her job at home, except to her husband, who works with the Home Secretary and is aware what she is doing. The leak clearly points out that there is a high level mole and it is this high level mole hunt that takes up most of the time. The obvious candidate is the ambitious shit of a Foreign Secretary who is hardly modest and is clearly arrogant about his plan to move to No.10 Downing Street, health issues of the earlier PM be damned and uses every dirty trick in the book to foil the chances of the other incumbents for the PM’s post. So like anyone investigating the higher ups, Kate has to tread very carefully.

The mechanics of the investigation along with the “I don’t care a damn” behavior of the Foreign Secretary point him out as the obvious suspect. The inconclusive final shot shows he still may or may not be the SVR mole.

Unfortunately the Series has couple of cliched stereotypes and anyone who watches films or TV series with a female protagonist knows that the lead character will have “family problems” , usually meaning a rebellious teenaged daughter. I do not know why this stupid trope is being repeated in series after series so much that we can predict how the daughter will ‘go straight’ once she hears what her mother is doing for a living – in this case defending Queen and Country. Naturally the mother says “its not James Bond and I rarely carry a gun” and so on. Again, naturally, when we learn the identity of the Mole, we are really surprised how that turned out to be.

International locations add to the overall stylish look of the TV series . Hopefully Kate Henderson will return as she is based on a book trilogy written by writer Tom Bradby who has a cameo as a TV presenter , discussing the shenanigans of the Cabinet.

This is as taut as they come and even allowing for the cliched “family life’, couple of chases and one scene of gunplay, it is still a superb absorbing series and at 5 episodes , hardly takes up one’s time.

Highly recommended.

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 4.5 out of 5

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The Undeclared war (2022) – Season 1 – Predictable but interesting

26/07/2026/2 Comments/in NEW Cold War, Spies and Spying, Techno Thriller, Woman centric/by Rammesh

Clickable links in red

Genre: Spy Thriller

Platform: Jio Hotstar

Time: 6 episodes x average 48 minutes

Cast: Hannah Khalique-Brown (Saara Parvin). Simon Pegg (Danny Patrick). Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Kathy Freeman). Edward Holcroft (James Cox). German Segal (Vadim Trusov). Tinatin Dalakishvili (Marina Yeselova). Mark Rylance (John Yeabsley.

Plot: As part of her University Computer science course, Saara Parvin gets a job experience placement for a year , at GCHQ Cheltenham. Her father is happy but not her family. She is in a relationship with her teacher James. Once inside GCHQ, she is posted in the “Malware Department’. With the help of a male cipher specialist who topped a hackathon, she traces the source code of a Cyber Attack on Britain , that does lot of damage. There is a national election and Danny Patrick is asked to find out if the voting system is hack proof. Vadim , who had been Saara’s fellow student, returns to his native Russia and is appalled at the attacks carried out on Britain…

Sir Alex Younger, the SIS Chief ‘C’, who died on June 2,2026 shared some interesting videos on You Tube about his work. In one video , he shares “our enemy had to physically visit our country to do harm; now they need not,” pointing to the vulnerabilities on The Net

If we keep that in mind then the series is extremely interesting ; if not it will be ‘just another one about a young fresh recruit finding out / stumbling upon dangerous plots‘.

As always with any such series, the first episode takes time to establish all the characters – who does what and why . It is soon clear that Saara’s household is orthodox Muslim, to whom , she hasn’t mentioned her live in relation with her professor James. At GCHQ, it is pretty clear that she will receive minimum help and has to do as she is told. Predictably she goes outside the chain of command and spots the source of the major Russian origin cyber attack. The COBR – Cabinet Office Briefing Room – is in session and Britain’s first black PM wants options for a reprisal attack on Russia. Saara seeks the help of Kathy, on secondment from the US NSA, the super secret SIGINT agency.

We soon know where all these strands are going and it is the somewhat predictable nature of the series that takes away much of its promise and even some tense moments. If anyone’s idea of spy thrillers is kaboom explosions, moles, counter moles and so on, then that too is unavailable. Instead like any good counter espionage work, it’s the assembly of pieces of the puzzle that proves the juice to Saara’s quest for the source of the attack. We also know that since she is a “fresher” , she will see stuff that the “experienced” “older hands’ cant or don’t want to see.

Nowadays it’s a given that any TV serial or film , especially a spy film, must have some kind of relationship troubles for the main character. We can guess that these will stem from her being “Young, Brown, Muslim”. Somewhat confused and naïve , and so on. As for the hacking, by this time, we know that it will be a series of ASCII characters and symbols scrolling on the screen that denotes the serious business of ‘hacking’(on film).

Addressing the “vote stealing” by the Conservatives against the ruling Labour is also a contemporary topic. Except that here Russian intelligence FSB (it should have been SVR which is the foreign intelligence agency) is the agency doing all the disruption and this puts everything in perspective as to what GCHQ (and similar agencies) do.

At 6 episodes, it is fairly fast and leads from one problem to another , though the scenes with Vadim do drag a bit but are essential to show the other side of the story – how the Russians plan an offensive cyber attack on Britain. FSB, Putin, Russia is explicitly mentioned as the source of all cyber attacks on Britain.

So, is this worth your time? Certainly. The episodes pick up after E3 and lead to the climactic finale from which it is clear that there is a Season 2 on the horizon (Actually August 2026, with two episodes already out)

Script – 3 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 3.8 out of 5

2 responses to “The Undeclared war (2022) – Season 1 – Predictable but interesting”

Robin Bhat

28/07/2026

HI Rammesh,

Excellent review, as always.
Have not watched this and adding to my ‘KV’ list!
The plot seems to be extracted from current news headlines. And somewhere there, Putin is laughing ?!

Warm regards,

Robin

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  30/07/2026
  
  Robin
  
  well – season 2 has XI and Putin combined – judging by the first episode out.:)
  
  KVR
  
  Reply