Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ landed itself in major controversy soon after it debuted on 29th August on Netflix. Based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 by Pakistani terrorists in December 1999, the series has drawn strong criticism for diluting the significant facts and portraying the perpetrators sympathetically. Now, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has taken cognisance of the matter and asked the streaming giant’s content head to appear before it on 3rd September.
Netflix Content Head has been summoned tomorrow by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting over the 'IC814' web series content row: Sources
— ANI (@ANI) September 2, 2024
The development transpired after hundreds of social media users accused the creators of the web series of purposefully highlighting the hijackers’ code names of “Bhola” and “Shankar,” without providing proper context or background of their nefarious intention behind the move. Netizens also accused the makers of stirring religious sentiments.
The real-life event that inspired IC 814 web series took place when Indian Airlines Flight 814, which was headed from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, was hijacked by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The flight was forced to land in Amritsar before arriving in the Taliban-controlled city of Kandahar, Afghanistan. The book ‘Aircraft Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ by Devi Sharan, the aircraft captain, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury, served as the inspiration for the web series, which is directed by Anunbhav Sinha.
The show features Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swami, Anupam Tripathi, Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Kumud Mishra in key roles.
