New Delhi:
Netflix India has updated the opening disclaimer on its ‘IC-814 Kandahar Hijack” web series to include hijackers’ real and code names, the OTT giant’s country content chief, Monika Shergill, said.
“For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking, the opening disclaimer has been updated… code names in the series now reflect those used during the event,” she said Tuesday.
Ms Shergill also said Netflix is “committed to showcasing stories with authentic representation”.
A massive row had erupted over the Netflix drama, which tells the story of the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in 1999.
On its release hundreds of social media users accused the creators of changing the names of two hijackers – who diverted the plane to Kandahar to then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan – to ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’.
The Indian government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had to release three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar – to secure the release of over 150 passengers and crew.
In January 2000 the Union Home Ministry revealed the names of the five hijackers – Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir.
The ministry also noted that during the hijacking and the hostage scenario they referred to each other by code names, two of which were ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’. The others were ‘chief’, ‘doctor’, and ‘burger’.
Journalists who covered the hijacking live put out social media posts amid the controversy, saying that passengers had told them the hijackers had, in fact, used these names to address each other.
The Netflix re-telling, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is inspired by those events and the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ written by Devi Sharan, who captained that flight.
It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur in key roles. However,
The subsequent protests led to Ms Shergill being summoned by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Sources told The Hindkesharishe had been called as the government is taking the matter “very seriously”, and that “nobody has the right to play with the Indian people’s sentiments”.