September 10, 2024
📰 FEATURE STORY
Does the Netflix series on the IC 814 hijacking do a disservice to the incident?
Where’s the line between fact and fiction? They can sometimes be blurry. Portraying real-life incidents and people on screen is a tricky proposition. On the one hand, storytellers aren’t making a documentary. On the other, there’s a responsibility to be truthful.
Netflix is caught in this push and pull with its series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.” As the title suggests, it portrays the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC814 after it took off from Kathmandu. Controversy quickly brewed over the portrayal of some of the characters. Does the series represent the truth or conveniently bend it for narrative/entertainment purposes?
Context
On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814 took off from Kathmandu, Nepal, headed for New Delhi. It was hijacked shortly after with 154 passengers and crew on board. The 5 hijackers were later identified as members of the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).
The plane landed at Amritsar after the Lahore airport refused permission to land. The terrorists demanded the aircraft be refuelled, but Indian authorities refused. Sensing trouble, the hijackers forced the plane to take off for Lahore. It refuels at Lahore and takes off for Kabul. Since Kabul didn’t have nighttime landings, the plane landed in Dubai. Following negotiations between Dubai authorities and the hijackers, 27 passengers are released.
The plane took off for Kabul and landed at the Kandahar airport on December 26. The hijackers initially demanded the release of 36 terrorists and $200 million. Following intense negotiations, India agreed to release Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Shaikh. The ordeal lasted till December 31, and the hijacked aircraft was returned to New Delhi on January 1, 2000.
The Indian government asked for the hijackers and the terrorists released to be treated as criminals under the law. The Taliban let them leave Afghanistan within a day. Maulana Masood Azhar would later form the Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The Netflix series, inspired by the book “Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story” by flight captain Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury, is billed as a dramatised account of the incident. The series was abuzz on social media for the wrong reasons. #BoycottNetflix began to trend, egged on by members of the BJP. The allegations centred on the names of the hijackers being changed.
After the Information and Broadcasting Ministry summoned and met with Netflix officials, the streaming platform said it would update the disclaimer with the real and code names of the hijackers. But has the damage already been done, or is all this an overreaction?
VIEW: It’s not a documentary
While the series is based on a book of first-hand accounts, it’s also not being presented as a documentary. Both can be true. Putting aside the show’s quality, any storyteller will understandably and obviously say that some events were dramatised for narrative purposes. That’s the nature of telling a story based on real-life events. The discussion about the series should be about the indecision of authorities at the time, the complexities of navigating such a crisis in real-time, and lessons to be learned from it.
For what it’s worth, the series has its fair share of defenders. In 2000, a statement by the Indian Home Ministry confirmed that the hijackers used aliases to communicate. The code names were Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola, and Shankar. This has been corroborated by journalists and witnesses. Two survivors, Rakesh and Pooja Kataria, confirmed the code names used by the hijackers. They said the series portrayed the real-life ordeal they and the other passengers went through.
The controversy snowballed into a political fight with BJP members, including the head of the party’s publicity cell, accusing director Anubhav Sinha of “legitimising the criminal intent”. This incident could have a chilling effect on streamers like Netflix and others and the type of content they produce in India. Self-censorship is not something that people should be rooting for. This latest controversy is another instance of content being attacked for supposedly upsetting the sentiments of certain groups.
COUNTERVIEW: Shoddy portrayal
The series, according to some, paints a shoddy picture of what happened outside the aircraft during the week-long ordeal. Bollywood has generally done a poor job of portraying India’s intelligence and security apparatus. On the one hand, that’s understandable due to the complexity and secrecy involved. On the other, storytellers should undertake a deep dive and do as thorough research as possible. The shortcomings of this series can be boiled down to half-baked research.
On the issue of the hijackers, it was not until the government intervened that Netflix felt it appropriate to put their real names on screen. The show vaguely portrays them as being linked to Afghanistan, maybe even Al Qaeda, and doesn’t give enough attention to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its involvement. The show didn’t seem interested in dealing with the group that was directly involved.
Some other inaccuracies deal with the suggestion that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had some prior knowledge about the plot and that an Indian agent tried to stop the plane from taking off. The show, it seems, relied on only a few accounts from inside the plane and decided to wing it on the rest. While it’s fair to ask questions of the Indian intelligence and security establishment, the show should’ve covered that aspect with better research.
Reference Links:
- Netflix India’s Head Of Content Summoned Over ‘IC 814’ Web Series Row – NDTV
- IC 814: When India’s National Security Management Failed Completely – The Wire
- IC 814 Row: What’s In A Name? Just A Reason To Outrage – NDTV
- Netflix’s IC 814 has led to a new round of ‘what ifs’. Learn lessons from the indecision – The Print
- Did the Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ incorrectly use Hindu names for hijackers? The controversy explained – Firstpost
- Netflix’s IC-814 show is too gentle on ISI. Pakistani agency is still protecting Masood Azhar – The Print
- Real Vs Reel: Here is How 1999 IC 814 Hijack Really Played Out – NDTV
What is your opinion on this?
(Only subscribers can participate in polls)
a) The Netflix series on the IC 814 hijacking doesn’t do a disservice to the incident.
b) The Netflix series on the IC 814 hijacking does a disservice to the incident.
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