Director Manika Berry Asgaonkar is yearning to go into slumber mode after all work. And while her husband and co-director Prabhu Asgaonkar is delighted that the Discovery+ documentary Declassified: Operation Sindoor premièred on August 15, he is now keen to explore a non-military subject. mid-day caught up with the filmmakers to discuss the making of the documentary, which chronicles Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliation to the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam attack that killed over 26 civilians. Featuring first-hand accounts from those in the war room to personnel on the front line, the husband and wife reveal how they shaped over 200 hours of interviews into a gripping two-part series.
Excerpts from the interview.
Among all the operations and armed force stories to tell, why did you choose Operation Sindoor?
Manika: It had captured the imagination of the entire world, last year. There have been a lot of stories about what went down. Over the years, Prabhu and I have built strong relationships with the armed forces. In bits and pieces, we were hearing their stories as well. While the journalistic world has covered it from the outside, [we wanted] to tell the story from inside Operation Sindoor. It was organic, and in just one day, Prabhu and I decided to tell the story from the voices of the people who actually did the operation.
A still from ‘Declassified: Operation Sindoor’
How did you arrange for all the people who appear in the documentary to speak?
Prabhu: Initially, we sent them the concept of what we were planning to do. The military, as such, is careful and security-conscious, so that was the first hurdle we had to cross. Considering that both Manika and I are armed-forces children and have worked a lot with the military over two decades, they had confidence that we would be able to give the right picture without compromising national security. We conducted the interviews in military areas, where we set up our studios. They’d come in and speak, with each interview easily exceeding 45 minutes. We went through each interview because we were sure we didn’t want any voice-overs. They poured their hearts out to us. And we culled the story out of that.
A still from ‘Declassified: Operation Sindoor’
Was so much of PM Narendra Modi’s presence in the documentary planned?
M: It was organically put, and we thought it was necessary because any national operation like this needs the people who head the government to have a voice. I don’t think we did anything out of that. It was within what we thought from the very beginning.
Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor was part of the documentary
Unlike other documentaries, this is only two episodes. What didn’t make the cut?
M: In the earlier documentaries we made, we had the then Defence Minister and National Security Advisor speaking, but it wasn’t to this extent because this operation was much bigger. What they spoke mattered. We needed it to be a six-part series, but then the platform and we decided [to keep it at two]. Getting the audience to understand this style of documentary filmmaking, you needed to give them [information] in small pieces, while keeping the story tight and compelling.
P: When people start telling first-person accounts, everything becomes important. Every emotion, moment of self-doubt is [important to capture]. It was a tri-services operation, so there were a lot of voices. The only option is to not get emotional about it. We had to cut it or it would become difficult to do it later.
[popcorn number="200" desc="Number of hours of recorded interview before the final cut" class="Default"]
Documentaries they’ve done before
. ‘Breaking Point: Belgaum Commando School’
. ‘Breaking Point: High Altitude Warfare School’
. ‘Ladakh Warriors’
. ‘Special Operations India series’
Music in documentaries
The couple insist that music plays a crucial part in documentaries like in movies and series. Manika says, “Sound design gets the film up in terms of the drama, and the way they speak. It also creates a mood, especially in an action or dramatic scenes.” Prabhu shares, “Music is critical, it sets the tone of the series”
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