IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack,
A web series directed by Anubhav Sinha, was released on the OTT platform Netflix on August 29. Actor Vijay Verma plays the lead role. On December 24, 1999, five terrorists hijacked an Indian airliner 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu. The terrorists—namely Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhtar, and Syed Shakir—hijacked flight IC 814 from Kathmandu to Delhi. The passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days. The hijackers demanded that the Indian government release terrorists Masood Azhar, Umar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar from jail. To save the lives of the passengers, then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh took the terrorists to Kandahar in a special plane, where an exchange occurred between the hostage passengers and crew and the militants. This event inspired the web series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack,” which was released on August 29.
What did the netizens say?
In this web series, the terrorists have been named Shankar and Bhola. After watching it, viewers expressed their displeasure on social media. Several netizens shared posts on X, writing, “The makers have changed the kidnappers’ names to Shankar and Bhola to protect terrorists belonging to a particular community.” Many have accused Anubhav Sinha of distorting the facts, using hashtags like #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood, and #BoycottIC814. One X user stated that Anubhav Sinha has defamed the Hindu community by portraying the terrorists’ actions under Hindu names.
Reacting to this, casting director Mukesh Chhabra shared a post on X, writing, “I have been reading many tweets about the names of the kidnappers. We did proper research. The terrorists used to call each other by fake names or nicknames.”
“I am reading so many tweets about the names of the hijackers. We did proper research. They used to call each other by those names—nicknames or fake names, whatever you want to call them. And thank you, everyone, for loving the ensemble cast. A big thank you to Anubhav Sinha for his faith and freedom,” Mukesh Chhabra shared on X.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack also stars Vijay Verma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, and Patralekha in pivotal roles.
