The much anticipated new spy thriller Salakaar has finally released on JioHotstar and the thriller has a detailed entry into the world of espionage where the boundaries between the duty and personal sacrifice are grey. It is a five episode series, with lead actors Naveen Kasturia and Mouni Roy, that is a high-stakes cat-and-mouse OTT show, spread over two different timelines, the cold war era of 1978 and the geopolitical world of 2025.
It is a story of an Indian spy who is obsessively pursuing his quest to derail the Pakistani nuclear dream and the effort will require unquestioning allegiance to the state and significant personal sacrifice of the workers of the system. As the series progress, it becomes apparent that the burden of these missions is far more than on the battlefield as it affects lives, relationships, and Generational legacies. In case Salakaar keeps you on the edge of your seat, here are some other shows that perfectly utilise the tricky issues of patriotism and self-sacrifice.
Patriotism and Personal Cost
Intelligence is an ungrateful trade and the only currency a spy can spend is his or her loyalty. Shows such as Avrodh: The Siege Within give an excellent depiction of this by providing a fictionalized version of the 2016 Uri surgical strike.
It is a tale of careful planning and perfect execution and more significant one shows the human loss these operations cause to the soldiers and their families. Equally so, Rocket Boys examines the sacrifice and mega-patriotism of scientists such as Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai who were both Indian scientists.
They are not the spies, but their efforts on the similar matters, space and nuclear programs of India, were also critical and involved their own sacrifice by virtue of reminding that not all patriotism has to be hush and said and can be possible through a textbook.
Sacrifice and Legacy
Sacrifice is the pillar of a spy thriller genre. An example of this is portrayed in Special Ops, whose lead actor is an agent with RAW Himmat Singh, who devotes his entire life fighting terrorism.
The show is a lesson on displaying the silent, thematically unrecognized sacrifices of the people who shield the country in the dark. He sacrifices a lot in order to remain loyal to his home country because this is one of the ongoing themes in these stories. Tanaav is another series, which highlights the psychological aspect of this kind of life, with an emphasis on a conflict between special task group and a terrorist organization.
It points to the fact that those agents are sacrificed not only physically but emotionally and mentally which they have to bear long after the mission is finished. These narratives make us aware that a legacy of service is usually tempered in the flames of personal setback and sacrifice.
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