The head of Netflix India, Monika Shergill, has been summoned by the government following a major controversy surrounding the web series “IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack.” The series, based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, has sparked outrage on social media for allegedly changing the names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar.”
The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s decision to summon Shergill comes after social media users accused the creators of distorting the facts. The series, developed by filmmakers Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is adapted from the book Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story by Captain Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. Notable actors Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, and Pankaj Kapur star in prominent roles.
The series recounts the infamous hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, carrying 191 passengers, was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi when five hijackers, disguised as passengers, took control of the aircraft. The flight made stops in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai before landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In response, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three terrorists—Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar—from Indian jails to secure the hostages’ release. Reports suggest that the Taliban assisted the hijackers and the freed terrorists in reaching Pakistan.
According to a Union Home Ministry statement issued on January 6, 2000, the hijackers’ real names were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir. However, during the hijacking, the terrorists allegedly referred to each other as “Chief,” “Doctor,” “Burger,” “Bhola,” and “Shankar.” Journalists who reported on the event in 1999 have corroborated this, stating that passengers revealed the hijackers used these code names.
The web series has faced severe criticism, particularly from BJP leader Amit Malviya, who accused the creators of promoting a misleading narrative. Malviya argued that by using non-Muslim names, the filmmakers were concealing the terrorists’ identities, potentially leading future generations to believe that Hindus were responsible for the hijacking. He also claimed that this manipulation serves a larger agenda of distorting history to whitewash the actions of Muslim terrorists.