Stream It Or Skip It?

There are spy dramas like The Americans that try to do a deep dive into the psyches of the operatives on both sides of a political divide, but there are others where there are good guys trying to stop bad guys from doing bad things. That latter vibe is what we get from a new Indian spy drama on Netflix.

Opening Shot: “The work we do makes mining for diamonds underground look like child’s play,” says a voice. “For us that precious diamond is intel.”

The Gist: In 1966, a leading scientist in India came out publicly saying that the country will be on the way to developing a nuclear weapon within 18 months. As Vishnu Shankar (Pratik Gandhi), an intelligence officer in the country, finds out, that scientist is being targeted by the CIA, the KGB and Mossad, and is regretful when he’s 15 minutes too late to stop a flight the scientist is on from being bombed out of the sky.

That incident led to India creating Research And Analysis Wing, R&AW, a new intelligence agency. Vishnu was one of its leading agents, with operatives helping him in China and Pakistan.

When the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war ended, with a treaty that favored India, Pakistani president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Hemant Kher) was determined to even the playing field between them and India by developing nuclear weapon of their own. He vows to the country’s top scientists that he is putting his top intelligence officer, Murtaza Malik (Sunny Hinduja), in charge of keeping all of the countries that want them to fail at bay.

We see how vicious Murtaza is when he has people he caught spying on the Pakistani government lined up in front of pre-dug graves, giving them a speech about going back to hell before having his men shoot them in the head.

The director of R&AW, R.N. Kao (Rajat Kapoor), knows that Pakistan was going to make an attempt at developing a nuclear weapon; Bhutto is taking his defeat personally, and Kao says so to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Avantika Akerkar). He assigns Vishnu to go undercover in Islamabad, with the goal of destroying Pakistan’s nuclear program. He even encourages him to get married to Mohini (Tillotama Shome), the woman his family recently introduced him to, to make his cover more believable.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Saare Jahan Se Accha: The Silent Guardians sort of feels like an Indian-Pakistani version of The Americans.

Our Take: Saare Jahan Se Accha: The Silent Guardians is based on real events, though a disclaimer makes sure to indicate that it’s a work of fiction. By doing this, it avoids complicating factors from history that might make the story anything more than the straightforward spy drama that it is. That’s not to say that the show is simplistic; nothing ever is when it comes to the bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan. But the show isn’t trying to be anything more than a story about one country trying to stop another country from developing the bomb.

The presentation of the series is slick, with lots of cutaways, quick graphics explaining who people are, and lots of dramatic music. Sometimes, those devices get in the way, yelling to the audience, “PAY ATTENTION. THIS IS IMPORTANT” rather than letting them figure it out for themselves. But the period look of the show works, and brings viewers into one of the most tense periods of Indo-Pakistani relations.

Being an Indian production, it’s not a stretch to say that it’s not a show that is going to deal with subtlety when it comes to Pakistan. They position Pakistan as the enemy, and any consideration of Pakistan’s side of the conflict, or even the human consequences of this operation on the Pakistani side, likely won’t be considered in this series.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As soon as Vishnu and Mohini arrive in Islamabad, they see a car with graffiti on it saying, “WE ARE WATCHING YOU.”

Sleeper Star: Rajat Kapoor is effectively stoic as R&AW director R.N. Kao.

Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not sure if it’s makeup, hair or something, but (Hemant Kher as Bhutto is giving us strong “Nick Mohammed as Evil Nate on Ted Lasso” vibes.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Saare Jahan Se Accha: The Silent Guardians is basically a period spy drama that doesn’t try to dive too deeply into the politics between India and Pakistan, making for a straightforward action series that isn’t super deep.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.