NEW DELHI, September 2: The content head of international streaming service Netflix’s India Monika Shergill has been summoned on September 3 by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over the OTT series ‘IC-814 – The Kandahar Hijack’, streaming on Netflix, has triggered a row on social media over the names of the hijackers.
The controversy has been generated as the series has changed the terrorists’ (hijackers) real names to code names.
In the OTT series, the five hijackers of the flight from Kathmandu are referred to as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar.The Hijack series created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Shrivastava stars actors Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy, Patralekhaa and Dia Mirza.
The six-episode series is based on real events. On December 24, 1999 flight IC 814 an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 enroute from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked after take off from the Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal shortly after it entered Indian airspace.
Hijackers take over
Soon after take-off, five hijackers, posing as passengers, took control of the plane. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee government agreed to release three prominent militants – Ibrahim Athar, Bahawalpur; Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Karachi; Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Karachi; Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, Karachi and Shakir from Sukkur city.
There were 191 passengers on board including 15 crew members, one person was stabbed, who succumbed to his injuries, while several others were wounded.
BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya had posted on X, “The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814.”
In a suo motu statement by then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in Parliament had stated that the hijacked IC 814 aircraft made landings at Amritsar, Lahore, Dubai before flying to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Netflix Media says this about the IC- 814:
“Good evening, this is your Captain speaking. I regret to inform you that this plane has been hijacked.”
As a routine flight ascended into the winter sky, a chilling announcement signaled the beginning of a hijack that would change Indian aviation history forever. Inside, passengers faced mounting terror as the aircraft made emergency landings in four countries overnight. Meanwhile, negotiators outside raced against the clock to ensure the safety of 189 onboard. Launching on August 29, the newly released trailer of Netflix’s IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack unveils the high-stakes drama and begs the question: Do we truly know all that transpired in those seven days?
Produced by Matchbox Shots in association with Benaras Mediaworks, Anubhav Sinha’s directorial streaming debut is inspired by real events. Adapted from the book “Flight Into Fear” by Captain Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury, the series also captures the heart of negotiations, unveiling the intricate diplomacy within Delhi’s War Room and the tense exchanges at Kandahar’s Negotiation Station.
The series features a stellar lineup of actors, including the venerable Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur, joined by a remarkable ensemble comprising Vijay Varma, Arvind Swami, Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Anupam Tripathi, Kanwaljeet Singh, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Sushant Singh, Aditya Srivastava, Rajeev Thakur and Yashpal Sharma.
The series is streaming on Netflix globally including Australia since August 29, 2024. It is adapted from the book Flight Into Fear by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury.
Sources- ANI, Netflix, Wikipedia etc.
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