Hollywood style spy thrillers of the stature of Bridge of Spies are rare in Bollywood. Our benchmarks are masala movies like Ek Tha Tiger or more acclaimed Baby (and its 'misses the mark' prequel Naam Shabana)
Its a shame that real Indian spies live and die in obscurity. This series that I stumbled upon on Amazon is an unacknowledged but a laudable attempt at setting that right. Only a handful few of Indians who have seen Ek Tha Tiger know about Ravindra Kaushik, the spy dubbed Black Tiger who dies in obscurity, of TB in a Pakistani jail while his country completely forgot him (thankfully that does not seem to be the case with Kulbhushan Jadhav)
I had read about Noor Inayat Khan when I stumbled upon a Wikipedia article by chance. Here is a full episode of her story.
No less remarkable is Ajeej Un Nisa - a tawaif who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Sepoys during the first Indian War of Independence in 1857
The media did pick up on some of the exploits of Ajit Doval as a spy when he was chosen the National Security Adviser. A spy par excellence he was known as the ghost for his ability to effortlessly infiltrate enemy ranks and come out with strategic information before the enemy had any idea that their fortress had been breached. Here is a remarkable episode on his role in Operation Black Thunder in 1989 that led to surrender of Khalistani terrorist without much bloodshed (after the botched operation of 1984)
There may not be much of on screen drama but the story often told by expert narrators are riveting enough to keep one glued for the entire 40 minutes
Definitely a series that deserves wider viewership. Thanks to Netflix for bringing it to us
