The team behind Operation Safed Sagar, the Netflix series dramatising the Indian Air Force's role in the 1999 Kargil war, has explained why a Shah Rukh Khan song appears in its soundtrack.

The track in question is Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein, from Khan's 1993 film Baazigar. It is used in the series to recreate the atmosphere of the late 1990s, anchoring the wartime story in its period.

The series takes its name from the actual IAF operation of the same name, mounted to push back Pakistani intrusions across the Line of Control during the Kargil conflict.

The show, which features actors including Jimmy Shergill and Abhay Verma, uses the familiar nineties number as a period cue — a small but deliberate touch tying its soundtrack to the era it depicts.