New Delhi:

Netflix India has updated the opening disclaimer on its ‘IC-814 Kandahar Hijack” web series to include hijackers’ real and code names, Monika Shergill, the OTT giant’s Vice President (Content, India), 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. Five hijackers took control of the plane and diverted it to Afghanistan, which was then ruled by the Taliban.

The government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, released three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar – to secure the release of 154 hostages.

The ‘Bhola’, ‘Shankar’ Row

After the series was published hundreds of social media users accused the creators – Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava – of changing the names of two hijackers to ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’.

This has been claimed as distortion of historical facts and critics have declared it misrepresents the terrorists’ real identities. They have also claimed it, therefore, offends Hindu sentiments.

READ | “Nobody Has Right To…”: Why Netflix Content Chief Was Summoned

However, in January 2000 the Union Home Ministry had revealed the real names of the five hijackers – Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir.

The ministry 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.

“Playing With Indians Sentiments”

The protests had led to Ms Shergill being summoned by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Sources told NDTV she 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”.

READ | “Content Per Nation’s Sentiments”: Centre-Netflix IC 814 Series Meet

Earlier today Netflix India officials met government officials for over an hour, after which sources told NDTV the streaming service said future content will tally with those “sentiments”.

BJP social media chief Amit Malviya posted a vicious attack on X, accusing the creators of the series of trying to whitewash the criminal actions of Pakistani terrorists by giving them Hindu names.

On the other side, opposition leaders like Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the selective outrage, and pointed to historical inaccuracies in other contentious films and series in recent months.

NDTV Explains | Controversy Surrounding Netflix’s ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’

The political spat aside there were demands on social media to boycott Netflix.

Netflix’s IC-814 Story

The Netflix re-telling is inspired by events on flight IC-814 and on ground in Kandahar and Delhi, as well as the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ by Devi Sharan, who was the plane’s captain.

It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur in key roles.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

Amid the massive row surrounding Netflix webseries ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, sources in the government have told NDTV that it is taking the matter very seriously and added that “nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of people of this country”.

“Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of people of this nation. India’s culture and civilisation should always be respected. You should think before portraying something in a wrong manner. The government is taking it very seriously,” a highly-place source said.

This comes hours after Netflix India’s content chief Monika Shergill was summoned by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry amid the row surrounding the webseries portraying the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Hundreds of social media users have accused creators of the web series of deliberately changing names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar”. The series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is inspired by the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ Devi Sharan, captain of the flight, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Kapur in key roles.

The web series captured the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, with 191 fliers onboard, took off from Nepal’s Kathmandu and was headed for Delhi. Soon after take-off, five hijackers, who were posing as passengers, took control of the plane. It later made several landings, at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three dreaded terrorists — Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar — from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages. According to reports, Taliban authorities helped the hijackers and the released terrorists reach Pakistan.

READ: Explained: Controversy Surrounding Netflix’s ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’

A Union Home Ministry statement dated January 6, 2000, said the names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir. “To the passengers of the hijacked place these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another,” the Home Ministry statement says.

Multiple journalists who covered the week-long hijacking back in 1999 have put out social media posts amid the controversy, saying that passengers had told them that the hijackers used these names to address each other.

Soon after Netflix started screening the webseries, a section of social media users criticised the creators for using “Bhola” and “Shankar” for terrorists’ names. 

Among those who slammed the creators of the show was BJP leader Amit Malviya. “The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814,” he said in a post on X. “Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” he added.

The content head of Netflix India has been summoned by the government amid the massive controversy surrounding ‘IC 814’, a webseries on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, sources have said.

The summons from the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry comes after hundreds of social media users accused the makers of the web series of deliberately changing the names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar”. The web series is directed by Anubhav Sinha and is inspired by the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ Devi Sharan, who was the captain of the flight and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.

The web series captured the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, with 191 fliers onboard, took off from Nepal’s Kathmandu and was headed for Delhi. Soon after take-off, five hijackers, who were posing as passengers, took control of the plane. It later made several landings, at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three dreaded terrorists — Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar — from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages. According to reports, Taliban authorities helped the hijackers and the released terrorists reach Pakistan.

A Union Home Ministry statement dated January 6, 2000, said the names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir.

“To the passengers of the hijacked place these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another,” the Home Ministry statement says. 

Multiple journalists who covered the week-long hijacking back in 1999 have put out social media posts amid the controversy, saying that passengers had told them that the hijackers used these names to address each other.

Earlier, BJP leader Amit Malviya was among those who slammed the makers of the webseries for using these names. “The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814,” he said in a post on X. “Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” he added.