The head of content at Netflix India has been summoned by the government in response to the controversy surrounding the web series "IC 814," which depicts the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued the summons following widespread criticism on social media that the show's creators intentionally renamed the hijackers as 'Bhola' and 'Shankar.' A section of social media users have been calling for a boycott of the series for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident.
Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series is based on the book 'Flight Into Fear: The Captain's Story' by the flight's captain, Devi Sharan, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra on Sunday claimed the perpetrators used nicknames for each other and proper research was done for the show. Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series is based on the 1999 hijack of an Indian aircraft by five terrorists on December 24, 1999, 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu. It started streaming on Netflix from August 29.
Using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood and #IC814, many X users shared posts claiming the makers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' to allegedly protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community. A user accused Sinha of "deliberate distortion of facts" as well as termed the series "propaganda".
Chhabra, a prominent casting director in the industry, said the terrorists used "nicknames or fake names" to address each other. "I am reading so many tweets about the names of the hijackers. We did the proper research. They used to call each other by those namesnicknames or fake names, whatever you want to call them."
"And thank you, everyone, for loving the ensemble cast. A big thank you to my team, and especially to Anubhav Sinha for trusting us and giving me the freedom to explore. #IC814 #Netflix," he wrote on X.
Five terrorists Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter and Sayed Shakir hijacked the IC-814 plane during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24 that year.
At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar.
"IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" features an ensemble cast of Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza and Patralekhaa, among others.
(With PTI inputs.)
