Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, and Naval Officer Prerna Deosthalee entered the hallowed halls of Kaun Banega Crorepati to a sped-up version of Vande Bharatram. They struck poses—an appropriate blend of solemnity and showmanship. Throughout the episode, they were accompanied by a soundtrack that appeared to be giving instructions to the viewer, telling them how to feel.
Operation Sindoor needs to be relived, and two months later, a curated version is being transmitted through a quiz show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
A lot has already been said about the officers appearing on KBC. “In any serious nation with a professional military, this would be unthinkable,” said Kerala Congress in an X post. Eyebrows have been raised regarding the fact that they appear in full uniform.
The episode itself was ultimately a meticulously choreographed ode to Operation Sindoor and the armed forces. No words were minced—phrases like “enemy”, “new India”, and “terrorist” were distributed in ample supply—and so was the drama.
The viewer was witness to a spectacle in which the serious and the unserious blurred together, one indecipherable from the other. It wasn’t dissimilar from our television channels during the operation—when news was entertainment and part of a performance.
Bachchan played the role of an awestruck citizen, asking the trio questions about how the mission was pulled off. He reiterated the importance of their positions as female officers.
“Beauty was turned into fear. Tourism in Pahalgam was at its peak,” said Colonel Qureshi. “[Operation Sindoor] wasn’t retaliation, but an answer. This is new India. Terrorism will not be tolerated.”
She also listed the terrorist attacks committed by Pakistan: 2001, 2008, 2016, and 2019.
The episode was punctuated by footage from the strikes, provided by ANI. It was explicitly mentioned by Commander Singh that India is a “peace-loving nation” and only the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad strongholds of Bahawalpur and Muridke were hit. But the spectacle of the episode was such that it became difficult to differentiate between stock footage of mushroom-like clouds and explosions, and the clips that served as critical proof of the operation.
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Promoting patriotism
There were distinct echoes of Bollywood in the episode. KBC and other reality shows have almost always served as platforms for actors to promote their films prior to release. It is dizzying to think that now it is the armed forces, delivering messages to the “enemy” and sharing details of strikes, making exactly the same use of Amitabh Bachchan’s hot seat.
At one point in the episode, Commander Deosthalee, who is the first Indian woman to command a naval warship, compared the three of them to a trishul (trident): such was their synergy. There was also a seamless pivot from answering a question about Julius Petri, the inventor of the petridish—Singh was quick to answer because her father was a science teacher—to the Kashmiri Muslims who helped the tourists down the valley following the terror attack.
A video of the officers’ testimonies was shown, as well as of those who witnessed the Poonch shelling. “The firing was one from 1 to 6. Our Indian Army gave an answer. If 10 rounds of firing were coming our way, we were sending 20,” said one witness. “We are so proud of our Army.”
While Qureshi, Singh, and Deosthalee were all playing to support various charity organisations adjacent to the armed forces, the quiz itself was a supporting character—an appendage to the glory of Operation Sindoor. Bachchan also asked them about their trajectories.
Qureshi comes from an Army family where she was lulled to sleep not by “lullabies but by songs of bravery”. Throughout the episode, there was an unspoken aspiration being presented: to join the armed forces.
Toward the end, Bachchan asked members of the trio’s family to share their experiences.
“I came home from school, and while I was surprised to see my mother on TV, I trusted her,” said Singh’s daughter. Mother and daughter shared a hairstyle, and there was a sweet mix of emotion and pride on Singh’s face. It was one of the few natural, unpracticed moments in an otherwise carefully choreographed episode.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)