IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has stirred several controversies ever since its release including claims of whitewashing the terrorists’ religion and factual inaccuracies. Everyone associated with this Netflix series has vehemently denied all allegations and director Anubav Sinha has sung a similar lullaby while speaking to Mukesh Chhabra.
The seasoned filmmaker was asked to share his opinion on the loud reception IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack received to which Anubhav said, “It’s confusing. Ek taraf mohabbat hai, aur ek taraf gobar hai (On one side there is a lot of love, and on the other, there is crap).” He was then prodded about whether he thinks he should be ‘responsible’ for the negativity and controversy.
Sinha addressing this said it straight, “No, I don’t take myself that seriously. I just want to do my job with absolute sincerity and hard work. I wouldn’t have taken this on had I not been in love with the story. I loved it, that’s why I did it. All that remains is hard work, and the rest is up to the universe. The universe is both destructive and constructive…”
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Not to forget, as much as IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack received backlash, it was critically praised in even larger numbers. A quick run-through, the entire fiasco kickstarted on social media with boycott calls demanding the name change of the hijackers from Shankar and Bhola to their original names. Allegations were made against the IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack makers of trying to protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community.
This Netflix series is based on the book Flight Into Fear The Captain’s Story by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury and is a cinematic retelling of the December 24, 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines IC-814 aircraft by five terrorists. Their names were Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir but all of them reportedly used code names during the hijack.
Following the uproar and a summon notice from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Netflix added a disclaimer with all that needed clarification. This move coupled with roaring positive reviews settled the boiling controversial pot.
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