'She is not a red flag': Prajakta Koli on the Operation Safed Sagar backlash
The actor says Madhavi's decision came from love, not from anything toxic
Dubai: Netflix's Kargil War drama Operation Safed Sagar has spent most of August in the conversation, and one of the arguments it has generated is about a civilian.
Prajakta Koli plays Madhavi Reddy, the long-term girlfriend of Flying Officer CH Bal Reddy, played by Mihir Ahuja. When Madhavi leaves home and turns up unannounced at the Indian Air Force base, determined to build a life with him, a section of viewers online labelled her a red flag.
Koli disagrees, and has said so.
'A very human, common emotion'
Speaking to Screen, the actor said she never read the character that way. What Madhavi does, she argued, comes from being hopelessly in love and wanting a life with the person she loves, which is an ordinary thing to feel rather than a warning sign.
Her defence rests on the idea that people contain more than one thing at once. Bal Reddy is fighting for his country and is also a man in love. Madhavi supports his ambition and also wants a future with him. Those are not in conflict.
Leaving everything behind for him, Koli said, took courage.
Beyond the woman waiting at home
Her larger point is about what the show does with the partners of service personnel, a group that screen drama has historically flattened into wives standing at windows waiting for news.
Koli said the series is interested in far more of a soldier's life than what happens at the front line, and praised the way it gives its characters complicated, ordinary building blocks. Playing one of them, she said, is an honour.
It is a notable role for her. Koli built her audience as MostlySane on YouTube before moving into acting, and is best known for Mismatched and Single Papa, both on the same platform. Operation Safed Sagar is a considerable tonal shift from either.
About the series
Operation Safed Sagar: The Untold Story of the Kargil War is a six-episode period war drama that premiered on Netflix on 7 August 2026.
It draws on the Indian Air Force's high-altitude air campaign during the 1999 Kargil conflict, focusing on the Golden Arrows squadron. Oni Sen directs, with Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava as creators and showrunners. Srivastava served in the Air Force himself and took part in Operation Parakram in 2002.
The ensemble includes Siddharth, Jimmy Shergill, Abhay Verma, Dia Mirza, Adil Hussain, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin and Amrita Bagchi alongside Koli.
