NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting has summoned the content head of Netflix India on Tuesday regarding the series ‘IC-814 – The Kandahar Hijack’, which has sparked controversy on social media due to the portrayal of the hijackers.
In the series, the five hijackers are referred to as ‘Chief’, ‘Doctor’, ‘Burger’, ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’.
Sources from the ministry have said that they are seeking an explanation from Netflix India’s content head about the allegedly contentious aspects of the series, which depicts the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The portrayal of the hijackers has drawn criticism from some viewers who object to the ‘humane’ projection of the perpetrators.
“Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the people of this nation. Indian culture and civilisation should always be respected,” an official source told the news agency ANI.
According to sources, the Netflix team will present research documents and footage collected for reference, arguing that the series aligns with publicly available resources, including information from books and government statements.
The series has sparked controversy on social media regarding its portrayal of the hijackers. In addition, Surjit Singh Yadav, chief of Hindu Sena, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi high court, seeking a ban on the Netflix series.
The PIL alleges that the miniseries misrepresents the identities of the terrorists involved in the hijacking. According to the petition, the series incorrectly assigns Hindu names such as “Bhola” and “Shankar”–names associated with Lord Shiva–to the actual hijackers: Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Mistry, and Shakir.
The six-episode series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Shrivastava, features a cast including Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy, Patralekhaa, and Dia Mirza. It is based on the real events of December 24, 1999, when flight IC 814, an Indian Airlines Airbus A300, was hijacked shortly after take-off from Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport.
The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government agreed to release three militants. During the ordeal, one passenger was stabbed and succumbed to his injuries, while several others were wounded.
According to a statement by then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh in Parliament, the hijacked IC-814 aircraft made several landings at Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The government was forced to release three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar – from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages.
A January 6, 2000 statement by the Union home ministry identified the hijackers as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir, all hailing from various cities in Pakistan.
In the series, the five hijackers are referred to as ‘Chief’, ‘Doctor’, ‘Burger’, ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’.
Sources from the ministry have said that they are seeking an explanation from Netflix India’s content head about the allegedly contentious aspects of the series, which depicts the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The portrayal of the hijackers has drawn criticism from some viewers who object to the ‘humane’ projection of the perpetrators.
“Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the people of this nation. Indian culture and civilisation should always be respected,” an official source told the news agency ANI.
According to sources, the Netflix team will present research documents and footage collected for reference, arguing that the series aligns with publicly available resources, including information from books and government statements.
The series has sparked controversy on social media regarding its portrayal of the hijackers. In addition, Surjit Singh Yadav, chief of Hindu Sena, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi high court, seeking a ban on the Netflix series.
The PIL alleges that the miniseries misrepresents the identities of the terrorists involved in the hijacking. According to the petition, the series incorrectly assigns Hindu names such as “Bhola” and “Shankar”–names associated with Lord Shiva–to the actual hijackers: Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Mistry, and Shakir.
The six-episode series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Shrivastava, features a cast including Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy, Patralekhaa, and Dia Mirza. It is based on the real events of December 24, 1999, when flight IC 814, an Indian Airlines Airbus A300, was hijacked shortly after take-off from Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport.
The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government agreed to release three militants. During the ordeal, one passenger was stabbed and succumbed to his injuries, while several others were wounded.
According to a statement by then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh in Parliament, the hijacked IC-814 aircraft made several landings at Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The government was forced to release three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar – from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages.
A January 6, 2000 statement by the Union home ministry identified the hijackers as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir, all hailing from various cities in Pakistan.
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