The Kandahar Hijack / We will create content keeping in mind the sentiments of the country- Netflix

Amid the controversy over the web series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting met the content head of Netflix. Netflix assured that the content uploaded on the platform in future will take care of Indian sentiments and follow the proper review process.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Sep 03, 2024, 02:54 PM
The Kandahar Hijack: The uproar over the web series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' based on the Kandahar hijack is now in the eyes of the central government. On Tuesday, senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting met Netflix's content head Monica Shergill, in which Netflix assured that the content uploaded in future will take full care of India's emotional and cultural sensitivities. The reason for the controversy is being told in the context of the code names of the hijackers in this series, which match the names of Hindu gods. People on social media have given strong reactions, considering it an attack on religious faith. The central government has also clarified that tampering with facts in the name of creativity is not acceptable.

In the meeting, the officials were told that the Netflix team is evaluating the content in detail in this matter, which has been used in the IC 814: The Kandahar web series. Regarding the meeting between the central officials and the Netflix content head, the source said that the OTT platform has guaranteed the government that all the content coming on the platform in future will be sensitive and will be made keeping in mind the sentiments of the country. Apart from this, assurance of content review has also been given.

There is a ruckus over the names of the hijackers in Anubhav Sinha's web series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'. Meanwhile, on Monday, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a summon to Netflix's content head Monica Shergill. In this matter, a lot of anger is being seen among the people on social media against the OTT platform and the makers of the series. Hashtags like Ban Netflix were also run.

What did the central government say?

In the meeting with Netflix, the central government said, "We are supporting the content. We are promoting content and content creators, but facts cannot be tampered with." The government says that sentiments cannot be hurt in the name of creativity. It has been said that before releasing any content, proper research should be done and facts should be checked.

What is the whole controversy?

On August 29, the web series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' based on the 1999 Kandahar hijacking incident was released on Netflix. This 6-episode series shows the entire story of the Kandahar hijacking. The plane was hijacked by five people. In the series, the names of those hijackers are shown as Burger, Doctor, Bhola, Shankar and Chief. However, these were not their real names, but they had kept their code names for communication during the hijacking.

People got angry over giving names of Hindu gods to the characters of the terrorists. People opened a front against this series and Netflix on social media. People called it an attack on Hindu faith. However, Nilesh Mishra, who wrote the first book on this incident, told on social media that the terrorists had kept their code names the same. The real names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhtar and Syed Shakir.

Anubhav Sinha, who made films like Mulk, Article 14 and Bheed, has entered the OTT world through 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'. Many stars like Vijay Verma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Patralekha, Pooja Gaur and Kumud Mishra have appeared in this series.