'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', the crime thriller drama, is currently streaming on Netflix. Two days after its release, the web series has courted controversy.
The series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, is about the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. The hijackers were Muslim terrorists. However, the series identifies them with Hindu or generic names: Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief. The real names of the terrorists were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny, Ahmad Qazi, Zahoor Mistry and Shakir.
Why does the show give them Hindu names like Bhola and Shankar? Because the terrorists in real life did conceal their real names. They used the pseudonyms while communicating with others during the hijacking episode.
Then, why are Hindu Netizens outraged? The series doesn't let the audience see them as Islamic terrorists anywhere. "If you watch five hours of content, and at the end of it, you can't remember the four terrorists by their real names - then that's a creative choice that the storyteller is making. He wants you to remember Doctor, Burger, Shankar and Bhola. Sure, those were their code names but who they were for real is more important," writes Hardik Rajgor. The series also shows Indian officials as "idiots" while establishing the terrorists as "cool", Rajgor adds.
