The content head of Netflix India has been summoned by the government amid the massive controversy surrounding the IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack, a webseries on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan based terror outfit Harkat al Mujahideen. The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry summoned Netflix India’s chief Monika Shergill after there was social media outrage about the hijackers being named as Bhola and Shankar. The web series created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava is inspired by the book, “Flight of Fear: The Captain’s story” by Devi Sharan, who was the captain of the flight. The book is also co-authored by journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.
The series stars Naseruddin Shah, Vijay Verma, and Pankaj Kapoor in key roles. The web series is based on the hijacking that took place on Dec 24th 1999. The plane had 191 passengers on board including the support staff and pilots. It took off from Kathmandu and was to go to Delhi. But soon after takeoff, 5 hijackers took control of the plane and made several landings in 3 different airports Amritsar, Lahore, Dubai before flying it to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The government then led by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was forced to release 3 terrorists, Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages. According to reports, the Taliban helped the terrorists reach Pakistan along with the hijackers.
The names of the hijackers were reported to be Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.
Multiple journalists who had covered the incident during the time, have put out the social media posts amid the controversy saying the passengers had told them that the hijackers used the names (Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola, Shankar) to call each other. There were backlashes from BJP leader Amit Malviya.
