Mihir Ahuja
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Mihir Ahuja exhibits a stirring resolve in Operation Safed Sagar. Playing a real-life flying officer, C.H. Bal Reddy, the actor adds a humanising touch to his portrayal, blending the vulnerabilities of being young with the responsibility of defending the country during the 1999 Kargil war. Mihir was just a year old at the time and had heard stories of the war while growing up. And like most kids, he was also harbouring dreams of being a pilot one day. “Whenever a plane or helicopter would pass by our house, my dad used to take me to the balcony to show. I got fascinated with planes and the engineering behind it. But then my passion for acting took over,” says Mihir, known for starring in The Archies, Vijay 69 and Sarzameen.Now, it is that selfsame passion that has got him closer to experiencing being a pilot on-screen. The actor describes the moment of sitting in a fighter jet for the first time as “nerve-wracking”. “It was unreal. I was asking myself if I am actually sitting in a real fighter jet? It was quite surprising and inspiring at the same time,” he says, adding how the cockpit was quite compact with no room to move around. “Its not easy to sit inside. You cannot see anything ahead or on the right and left. You can only move your neck a bit. I don’t know how the flying officers do it. I cannot even imagine.”Interestingly, Mihir became part of Operation Safed Sagar at the last minute. The actor was shooting for another film in Mumbai when he got a call for audition for the show. “It was an urgent casting call. I went to their office at around 1 am. That’s when I auditioned for the first round,” reveals Mihir. He then got a call for the second round within a week and then there was no update from the film’s team. Days passed and Mihir had forgotten about the project. But he finally got a call just two days before the shoot was going to commence. “I was very happy and nervous as there was no time to prepare,” he says. The initial days of shoot, however, involved little technical preparation as he shot the romantic portions with Prajakta Koli, who plays Madhavi, Bal Reddy’s love interest in the series.
