Director Anubhav Sinha’s web series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ was released on Netflix on 29 August. From the very next day, a controversy broke out on social media regarding the show. Regarding ‘IC 814’, the public on social media was upset with two things – the real names of the hijackers were hidden and their Hindu code-names were shown and the terrorists in the show were shown as soft and sensitive, while the Indian officials were shown as confused and lax in their work.
The controversy grew so much that within 5 days, Netflix India’s content chief Monica Shergill had to respond to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, change the show’s disclaimer and assure that their OTT platform will take care of things in the future as well. In such a situation, two interesting questions arise – has no film been made on the 1999 Kandahar hijacking before? If it has been made, then why was there no controversy over it? Let us tell you the answer to these questions…
These films have been made on Kandahar hijack
In 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi in India was hijacked. After stopping at many places, it was finally taken to Kandahar where the Taliban was ruling at that time. A team of officials from India went to Kandahar, negotiated with the hijackers and the hijacked plane and passengers were released in exchange for 3 terrorists imprisoned in Indian jails.
This incident, which India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (who was also a part of the negotiation team) has described as a ‘diplomatic failure’, has been indirectly shown in films many times. But only the part of the ‘demand to release the terrorists in exchange for the lives of the people of the hijacked flight’ was borrowed from the real story. The further story on this part was created through fiction.
One of the biggest directors of Bollywood, Rohit Shetty made his debut with the film ‘Zameen’ (2003) and it was inspired by this incident. In the climax of this film starring Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan, the hero catches the terrorist who was being released again. That is, what did not happen in the real incident and if it had happened, the country would have felt proud, the film showed it happening. However, the film did not do well even then and to compensate for this flop, Rohit later did many films with Ajay Devgan.
The plot of Shiney Ahuja and Esha Deol’s ‘Hijack’, which was released in 2008, was also loosely based on the hijacking of IC 814. In this too, the hero single-handedly kills all the terrorists in the end. This film too could not do anything special.
In the 2010 Malayalam film ‘Kandahar’, Malayalam industry icon Mohanlal was an NSG commando. His team manages to infiltrate a flight that has landed in Delhi to refuel and eventually kills the terrorists inside. However, one of his colleagues is killed, whose father was played by Amitabh Bachchan in a cameo. This film too received overwhelmingly negative reviews and flopped.
In Nagarjuna’s Tamil-Telugu film ‘Payanam’ released in 2011, the special forces team enters the flight and kills the hijackers. And once again, the film inspired by ‘Kandahar hijacking’ flopped.
Why was there a controversy over Anubhav’s show
The most important thing is that only a part of the plot of the films made on IC 814 was inspired by the real incident. At the end of all the four films, the hijackers were killed, which was not true. But these films did not even claim to show anything like the truth. They brought a fictional angle inspired by the real incident.
The trailer of Anubhav Sinha’s Netflix series ‘IC 814’ came out claiming that the show is ‘based on true events’. The show specifically references two books, one written by Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot of the real flight, and the other by Anil Sharma, the cabin crew chief of the real flight.
In an interview given to Variety before the release of the show, Anubhav said that he thought he knew everything about this incident. But while writing the show and doing research for it with British journalist Adrian Levy, he realized that he knew nothing. Anubhav said, ‘I really feel that the more authentic and local (the content) is made, the more appealing it is, because the public has never tasted this taste, I tried to be as honest to the material as possible.’ That is, before the release, the atmosphere was completely created that ‘IC 814’ is going to show the Kandahar hijack with complete authenticity and facts.
While the disclaimer of ‘IC 814’ says that this show is a fiction based on some real events. The names of places and characters have been ‘creatively’ changed to show it in a dramatic way. And this series does not claim to ‘show authenticity or historical facts’. However, in between its show, Anubhav uses real camera footage of the real IC 814 hijacking and the families of the passengers talking to the media. The public often skips the disclaimer at the beginning of the show and the perception formed in the public about a film or show depends more on the statements of the filmmakers and the atmosphere created during the promotion.
Therefore, it can be said that the ‘creative liberties’ taken in the show after claiming that it was ‘based on true events’ in the trailer confused the audience. The controversy could have been avoided if the real names of the terrorists were revealed on the screen through a rider at the beginning or in the middle of the show. The two books on which ‘IC 814’ is said to be based are both versions of the people sitting inside the hijacked flight. Therefore, the public still believed what they showed inside the flight.
But the way the Crisis Management Team was shown to be confused, if it had really happened then it could have been told on the basis of which book or information it was shown. After the release of the show, the real pilot and cabin crew chief of IC 814 have also said that some things were shown in the show which did not happen in real. Whereas the show has been said to be based on the books of these two only.
These statements also gave the public a reason to doubt ‘IC 814’. Now, after responding to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and changing the disclaimer, ‘IC 814’ remains on Netflix, but now it remains to be seen whether the controversies over the show stop now or continue like this.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)