Coming soon: a spy thriller series on founder of R&AW

To capture inception of R&AW under R N Kao & its role in various international disputes

New Delhi

In a first-of-its-kind, a web series putting a spotlight on Rameshwar Nath Kao,founder of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s foreign intelligence agency and its manoeuvres in disputes with foreign nations will be showcased on an OTT platform.

The spy thriller web series is an adaptation of a 2014 book- titled “Mission R&AW”- authored by former R&AW officer R K Yadav. The series will be produced by Bohra Bros which has over 36 movies to his credit including national award winning “Shahid” and critically acclaimed “Gangs of Wasseypur”.

Confirming the development, R K Yadav told ET “My books gives an insight into the professional acumen of Mr Kao and how R&AW came into inception. Despite his many achievements he was monitoring China in 1962 war when he was attached with Jawaharlal Nehru as his PSO”.

Elaborating, Yadav told ET that besides giving a detailed account of the little known journey of Kao, his book also chronicles the 1962 war with China and the intelligence gathering techniques adopted by R&AW.

“Kao told me that US had proposed to Jawaharlal Nehru a nuclear action against China in case conflict escalated in November 1962. Thereafter Nehru rejected the Chinese proposal of summit with them & demanded Chinese withdrawal beyond LAC which China had to concede to. Disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 was joint strategy of Kao & late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw”.

When contacted, Sunil Bohra told ET “to document the story of Mr R N Kao is by far my life’s most challenging and important project. Our team has been working on this project for the past two years. The book authored by Mr Yadav gives an elaborate account of the founder and India’s foremost intelligence agency”.

Bohra added “Having perused the details, we realised that it would be unfair to encapsulate the astounding story of Kao in merely two hours. Hence, we have decided to make a web series so that justice can be done to the man who we, and our generations to come, all should be proud of. A team of experts will be roped in and the series will be shot in China, Bangladesh, China, Sikkim, USA”.

As per available information, the web series will chronicle the infamous sabotage of “Kashmir princess”, a chartered aircraft owned by Air India in 1955 which while en route from India to Indonesia was damaged in mid- air by a bomb explosion and had crashed into the South China sea claiming sixteen lives on board.

Investigations into the sabotage led by Kao had revealed that the then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, who missed the flight due to a medical emergency was the prime target.

The web series will capture the “emergence of Indira Gandhi” after the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent and her decision to form R&AW under the aegis of R N Kao.

Also, the thriller series will capture the paradigm shift in the intelligence gathering by the agencies post the Sino-Indian war, the 1965 war with Pakistan and the role of R&AW in other international disputes.