The recently-released web series, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, starring Vijay Varma in the lead role, has stirred up a massive controversy after the hijackers were named 'Bhola' and 'Shankar' on the show. The show is based on the real-life hijack incident of 1999, and netizens pointed out that the terrorists were identified as Muslims post the incident, and accused director Anubhav Sinha of showing misleading information.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack tells the story of the longest hijack in the history of India. It is based on the true events of 1999 when an Indian passenger flight was hijacked by terrorists, who demanded the freedom of militants in exchange of letting the passengers onboard the flight leave unharmed.
Post the incident, the five hijackers were identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Mistry, and Shakir, who were members of a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation.
However, in the show, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, the terrorists can be seen identifying themselves as 'Bhola' and 'Shankar', and one even went on to call himself 'Burger'.
This did not go down well with the viewers, who questioned Anubhav Sinha for changing the names of the terrorists. "Terrorists were named 'Shankar' & 'Bhola'. Agar aatankwad ka koi mazhab nahi hota to naam change kyu kiye bhai?," a user asked.
"This is how whitewashing done cinematically," another user wrote, while an X user commented, "Shame on @anubhavsinha for naming the hijackers as Shankar and Bhola! All the hijackers were Muslim terrorists.."
Later, netizens pointed out that the names 'Bhola' and 'Shankar' were actually used by the hijackers as codenames during the operation. However, they opined that it should have been clarified in the show.
Besides Vijay Varma, the show also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Patralekhaa, Dia Mirza, Arvind Swamy, and others. It released on Netflix on August 29, and is being lauded for the performances and gripping storyline.
