New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- In the high-stakes world of Indian entertainment, where connections can often open doors faster than craft, Sandeep Jain stands out as an outsider who made his way in through storytelling. An IIT Delhi graduate from the 2011 batch, Jain left a Rs 22-lakh annual package in 2013 to pursue the uncertain dream of filmmaking. What began as an acting stint soon evolved into screenwriting - an accidental calling that has since brought him critical acclaim, a Filmfare Award and most recently, Netflix's war series 'Operation Safed Sagar'.
"Writing chose me," Jain says. Raised in a middle-class family in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, he grew up with little exposure to cinema; his father once delivered milk door to door. An IIT degree and corporate job offered security before he took the filmmaking plunge. Today, the son of a milkman creates stories and emotions that resonate with audiences across the country.
His breakthrough came with TVF's 'Kota Factory', which captured the pressures of IIT coaching and later moved to 'Netflix'. Co-writing Tabbar earned him the Filmfare Award for 'Best Story (Series)', which he calls 'clearing IIT in this industry'. He dedicated the honour to his father while walking the red carpet as a boy from Shivpuri. His subsequent credits include 'Criminal Justice Season 4', 'Kanneda' on 'JioHotstar' and 'Kan Khajura' on 'SonyLIV'.
Most recently, Jain led the writers' room on Netflix's 'Operation Safed Sagar', centred on the Indian Air Force's role in the 1999 Kargil War. The research was exhaustive, involving multiple interviews with pilots and layers of pre-war and wartime anecdotes. The challenge was to maintain a balance between factual authenticity and dramatic necessity.
"What audiences see is only about 20 per cent of the material we gathered," he notes.
The task was to capture the essence of real voices without turning the series into either dry documentation or excessive fiction. The result sought to present a grounded, human war drama rather than a jingoistic spectacle.
Jain doesn't romanticise screenwriting. In India, it remains a long and often thankless profession. A writer may spend more than a year on a series, only to see it pass through multiple hands before reaching the screen. Royalties, standard in many Western markets, remain rare in India, with only a handful of production houses offering them. Payment delays and outright non-payment are common enough that even writers behind successful shows can struggle to make ends meet in Mumbai.
Jain has experienced these challenges himself but credits his entrepreneurial streak with helping him weather setbacks. He urges newcomers to insist on clear contracts rather than relying on verbal assurances, noting that writers can be particularly vulnerable during negotiations.
The Screenwriters Association continues to push for better terms, but exploitation persists. Jain believes this drives many talented writers towards direction and other roles for greater creative control, respect and financial security. Despite television's different dynamics, he says film and streaming still undervalue the labour that begins with a blank page.
That blank page remains the toughest part, with every assignment demanding reinvention. Jain credits his ability to balance emotion and logic to a personal quirk - a simian line on his palm. Though he does not believe in palmistry, he sees an interesting parallel with his approach to characters and plots.
Looking ahead, Jain has founded Kahaani Adda to develop stories rather than mere marketable products. He aims to explore diverse genres and the full spectrum of 'navarasa', the nine aesthetic emotions of the 'Natyashastra'. Two theatrical films with major studios are lined up, while his eight-episode directorial series is in post-production.
Ambitious but patient, Jain hopes to explore acting, directing and producing, drawing inspiration from Farhan Akhtar. As an outsider, he knows establishing oneself in the industry can take time.
For now, he remains grateful to tell stories that matter - stories he hopes deliver emotions as reliably as his father once delivered milk. His journey from IIT Delhi to 'Netflix' is a reminder that in an industry driven by connections, content can still clear the hardest exams.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.