"Several social media users are calling for a boycott of the series "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" because they believe that the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident were concealed. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra stated on Sunday that the perpetrators used aliases for each other and emphasised that thorough research was conducted for the show.
Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series is centred on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft by five terrorists on December 24, 1999, 40 minutes after it departed from Kathmandu. It became available for streaming on Netflix on August 29.
Using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood, and #IC814, numerous users expressed their views, claiming that the producers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' in an attempt to shield the terrorists, who were presumably part of a particular community."
A user accused Sinha of "deliberate distortion of facts" and termed the series "propaganda."
".... it’s a vile attempt to rewrite history, downplay the terror inflicted by the actual hijackers, and subtly glorify their actions. By reducing the tragedy of IC 814 to a farcical narrative, Sinha has shown where his loyalties lie—not with the victims or the truth, but with an insidious agenda that seeks to whitewash the brutality of terrorism and vilify the Hindu community," she wrote on X.
"Names of IC814 Hijackers changed to Shankar & Bhola by @anubhavsinha. This is how Bollywood let the TERRORISTS WIN: #BoycottBollywood #IC814TheKandaharHijack," wrote another.
"IC 814 Terrorists names - Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. In Movie - Shankar & Bhola!" read a post.
Chhabra, a prominent casting director in the industry, said the terrorists used "nicknames or fake names" to address each other.
"I am reading so many tweets about the names of the hijackers. We did the proper research. They used to call each other by those names—nicknames or fake names, whatever you want to call them." "And thank you, everyone, for loving the ensemble cast. A big thank you to my team, and especially to Anubhav Sinha for trusting us and giving me the freedom to explore. #IC814 #Netflix," he wrote on X.
The IC-814 plane was hijacked by five terrorists, Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir, during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24 that year.
During the incident, 154 hostages, including passengers and crew, were held captive for eight days. The stand-off came to an end when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released, and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh escorted them on a special plane to Kandahar.
"IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" boasts an impressive cast, including Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, and Patralekhaa.
Follow us
