The Story Behind ‘Declassified: Operation Sindoor’: How the Film Was Made

Declassified: Operation Sindoor, which premiered on Discovery Channel on August 15, attempts something unusually difficult: telling the story of a major military operation while its strategic, political and security implications are still unfolding.

In this conversation, filmmakers Prabhu Asgaonkar and Maneka Berry speak to Neelanjana Banerjee about the journey behind the documentary. They are joined by Nitin A. Gokhale, national security analyst, founder of the BharatShakti Group, and one of the principal voices featured in the film.

The discussion goes beyond what viewers see on screen. It looks at the challenges of documenting Operation Sindoor, the decision to make the film, and the larger question of why this particular story needed to be recorded and told.

For the filmmakers, the challenge was not simply finding compelling footage or assembling a chronology of events. Operation Sindoor involved military planning, intelligence, political decision-making and national-security considerations — subjects where access is difficult and where the line between what can be revealed and what must remain confidential is particularly important.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is its access to senior decision-makers. How did the filmmakers persuade people who were directly involved in the operation to speak? And what did it take to convince the National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to participate in the documentary?

The conversation also examines the role of Discovery Channel in bringing the story to a wider audience and the responsibility that comes with documenting a defining moment in India’s recent security history.

For Nitin Gokhale, who appears in the documentary as a national security analyst, the challenge is equally significant: how do you explain a complex military operation to a general audience without losing either the strategic context or the human dimension?

This is a conversation about Declassified: Operation Sindoor — but also about the difficult business of turning contemporary national-security events into history.