The controversy surrounding the Netflix series "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" has intensified, leading to the summoning of Netflix India's content head by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series dramatizes the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, which was taken over by terrorists and diverted to multiple locations before finally landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
This escalation comes a day after social media users on X (formerly known as Twitter) accused the series of inaccuracies. On September 1, PTI reported that netizens alleged the series was "hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident."
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In response, casting director Mukesh Chhabra defended the show, stating that the perpetrators used nicknames for each other and that proper research was conducted for the series. The show, which began streaming on Netflix on August 29, portrays the events of December 24, 1999, when five terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu. However, the series has faced backlash online, with users on X using hashtags like #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood, and #IC814. They claimed the makers had changed the names of the hijackers to "Shankar" and "Bhola" in an alleged attempt to protect the identities of the terrorists, who belonged to a certain community.
The real-life Kandahar Hijack involved five terrorists—Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir—who hijacked Flight IC-814 during its journey from Kathmandu to Delhi. The 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days. The stand-off concluded when terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released in exchange for the hostages. Then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh personally escorted the released terrorists to Kandahar.
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"IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" features a star-studded cast, including Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, and Patralekhaa, among others.