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The web series 'IC 814 - The Kandahar Hijack' has sparked controversy for allegedly changing the names of the hijackers to "Bhola" and "Shankar," which many believe is a deliberate attempt to alter historical facts.
The web series ‘IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack’ has sparked controversy for allegedly changing the names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar,” which many believe is a deliberate attempt to alter historical facts.
The series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by the Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has summoned Netflix India content head Monika Shergill for an explanation.
The series, inspired by the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ by Captain Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury, features prominent actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, and Pankaj Kapur.
The web series ‘IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack’ portrays the dramatic events of December 24, 1999, when Indian Airlines Flight 814 was hijacked by five armed men shortly after taking off from Kathmandu, Nepal, en route to Delhi.
The flight, with 191 passengers and crew onboard, made emergency landings in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai before being taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where the hijackers negotiated with the Indian government. The incident was one of the most significant and tense hostage crises in Indian history.
During the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, faced an intense crisis that resulted in the release of three notorious terrorists: Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.
This exchange was made to secure the safe release of the 191 hostages on board the plane. The hijackers, identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir, were supported by Taliban authorities, who facilitated their and the released terrorists’ safe passage to Pakistan.
This incident remains a pivotal and controversial moment in India’s counterterrorism history. BJP leader Amit Malviya criticized the makers of the web series ‘IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack’ for using non-Muslim names for the hijackers, arguing that this choice could lead to a distorted historical narrative.
