I&B Ministry summons Netflix content head over ‘IC-814’ series row

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has summoned the content head of OTT platform Netflix seeking an explanation over controversy of depicting hijackers in the series IC-814 – The Kandahar Hijack.

The web series starring Vijay Varma, is an account of the harrowing experiences of hundreds of passengers in the Indian Airlines flight that hijacked in 1999 and was diverted to multiple locations before ending up in Taliban-controlled Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The series came under serious scrutiny after criticisms surfaced of the makers deliberately changing the names of the hijackers, associated with the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, to ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ which are Hindu names.

BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said the hijackers were dreaded terrorists who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. The names of the terrorists were later released – Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhtar and Sayed Shakir.

“Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Decades later, people will think Hindus highjacked IC-814,” Malviya posted on X.

“Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier. This will not just weaken / put in question India’s security apparatus in the long run, but also shift the blame away from the religious cohort, that is responsible for all the bloodshed,” Malviya said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said it was really amusing to see the people who took movies like ‘Kashmir Files’ as the gospel truth having a melt down at the way the events of IC814 are depicted in the Netflix show.
“Now suddenly they want accuracy and nuance packaged in the script,” Abdullah said on X.

The series is a book adaption of ‘Flight into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ written by journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury and the captain of the hijacked flight, Devi Sharan. MSN