IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack film row: Netflix content head summoned

The IB Ministry summons Netflix content head over controversy surrounding the series based on real events.

The latest web show titled IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, featuring Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, and Pankaj Kapur, among others, and directed by Anubhav Sinha, is surrounded by a controversy over “name changes” of the terrorists shown in the series. Sources told ANI that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has summoned the content head at Netflix over the controversy surrounding the series based on real events of the 1999 hijacking.

IC 814 series controversy.

As per a report, the content chief of Netflix, Monika Shergill, has been summoned by the IB Ministry over a controversy surrounding the platform’s new web show IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. This comes a day after Netizens claimed that the series was inaccurate. PTI reported that Netizens on social media alleged that the Netflix series was “hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident.” In response, casting director Mukesh Chhabra claimed that the perpetrators used nicknames and that proper research was done for the show.

Netflix content head summoned by the IB Ministry.

A highly-placed source said, “Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of people of this nation. India’s culture and civilization should always be respected. You should think before portraying something in a wrong manner. The government is taking it very seriously.” The Content chief at Netflix was summoned amid the row surrounding the web series portraying the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Netizens accuse makers of hiding the truth.

Many social media users posted their anguish about the portrayal of things in the web series, using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood, and #IC814. They accused the makers of deliberately changing the hijackers’ names to “Bhola” and “Shankar” in the series. The series created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava is inspired by the book Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury.

The web series captures the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. Dated January 6, 2000, a Union Home Ministry statement said the hijackers’ names were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir. The statement read, “To the passengers of the hijacked plane, these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola, and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another.” However, Netflix received flak from social media users for using “Bhola” and “Shankar” for terrorists’ names. BJP, too, slammed the creators of the show.