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Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is set to make his OTT debut with ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack,’ a series based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft by Pakistani militants. The series will premiere on Netflix on August 29.
TV Web Series Name: IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Anupam Tripathi, Aditya Srivastava, Arvind Swamy, Amrita Puri, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Kumud Mishra, Kanwaljit Singh, Vijay Varma, Patralekha Paul, Yashpal Sharma, Manoj Pahwa
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Number of seasons: 01
Number of episodes: 08
OTT Release Date: 29 August, 2024
Rating:
Production Companies: Sikhya Entertainment, Dharma Productions
Original Network: Netflix
Indian Airlines flight hijacked en route Kathmandu-Delhi on Dec 24, 1999, diverting to Kandahar under Taliban control.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack: TV Mini Series
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is an upcoming Hindi-language streaming television series directed by Anubhav Sinha for Netflix. It stars Vijay Varma, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Dia Mirza, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Pooja Gor, Kanwaljit Singh, Manoj Pahwa, Patralekha Paul, Kumud Mishra, Amrita Puri, Yashpal Sharma, Aditya Srivastava and others.
The series was announced by the makers in early 2024.
Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is set to make his OTT debut with the upcoming series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.’ This thrilling series, based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft by five Pakistani militants, features an ensemble cast and will premiere on Netflix on August 29.
The teaser begins with Indian passengers preparing to take off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, for their flight to Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Vijay Varma plays the role of pilot Sharan Dev. Suddenly, five masked militants hijack the flight, putting him at gunpoint and assaulting the air hostess, causing terror among everyone on board.
The teaser also gives a glimpse of other stars who play the role of Indian government officials including Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Manoj Pahwa, and Naseeruddin Shah. The passengers face a greater threat as they are flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan, which is under Taliban control.
Meanwhile, it is inspired by a real-life incident where hijackers kept 176 passengers of the IC-814 aircraft hostage for seven days. The flight took off from Kathmandu and was headed to Delhi but was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hijacking operation was said to have been backed by Pakistan’s military intelligence, ISI.
Web Series Trailer:
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack – Review:
Many sides of Kandahar hijacking
Capitulation to terror elements, or a trade-off to save precious lives? Making a series on an incident which many are likely to see as an abject surrender to terrorists requires some courage. In times when we are blowing the trumpet of patriotism, when we are hyperventilating about how strong our response to terror is, to go against the tide is not everyone’s wont. But Anubhav Sinha, director-creator of ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, does not tread the beaten path. Fictionalised accounts have hit the screens earlier too, but the manner in which Sinha brings alive the hijack drama of 1999, which as the series itself points out ‘history will not judge kindly’, follows a more balanced approach.
The infamous hijacking of Indian Airlines’ Airbus A300 from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999, did not happen under the current dispensation. But it was the BJP government in power nevertheless. For those who don’t remember, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was running a coalition government at the Centre. Once the plane was hijacked, the planning for which happened in Nepal, the hub of espionage, we learn how the government vacillated, even though they did contemplate storming the plane with the help of Punjab Police commandos. As the authorities dithered, the plane flew from Amritsar to Dubai to finally land in Kandahar.
Made in a documentary style, using a lot of archival footage, the six-part Netflix series captures the dread and fear of the passengers. For a long time, it seems as if the intention of the series, based on ‘Flight into Fear’ written by Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury, is to just play it out as a passengers’ diary. After all, to be hijacked for seven long days can only be an ordeal.
Sinha, who had no hesitation in showing piles of garbage in ‘Article 15’, makes us queasy with the sight of clogged toilets. More laudable, however, is that the director, who asked some tough questions in acclaimed films like ‘Mulk’ and ‘Article 15’, does not dilly-dally here too.
Indeed, he is not painting those in the thick of things as weaklings, or terrorists as outright demons, or Islamic nations as unfriendly. He presents many sides of the picture. There can’t be any ambiguity about the fact that but for one passenger, all were saved. But the series does not gloss over the price we paid and are still paying.
The ghosts of how the hijack issue was handled will certainly continue to haunt policymakers. Naseeruddin Shah as the Cabinet Secretary says, “We only let them know the constitutional choices. The job of bureaucracy ends here.” Only the maker’s job begins by recreating the events as truthfully as possible. And the series, which gives a blow-by-blow account of the seven days, does appear factual. Where the maker goes overboard is in his casting choices. It is almost like a class of Indian film industry. You name it, be it veterans like Naseeruddin Shah, Arvind Swami and Pankaj Kapur or finds of recent times like Vijay Varma, all are there.
Sinha, who in a way discovered the brilliance of the actor in Manoj Pahwa in his powerful ‘Mulk’, once again as the Additional Director, IB, gives him a part he can sink his teeth into. He is the chief negotiator. Among the crowd of so many superlative actors, there is a very real danger of many of them getting lost. And it takes a while to realise who is playing whom. Still, can anyone eclipse the might of Naseeruddin Shah, or a Pankaj Kapur in the part of foreign minister a la Jaswant Singh. In the final three episodes, we see more of the four men of the negotiating team which landed in Kandahar and actors like Arvind Swamy, playing the Joint Secretary, MEA, shine.
Pahwa’s tough act is peppered with humour and a dash of chutzpah. Afghanistan was then ruled by the Taliban, a government India did not recognise. When Swamy tries to drill sense into Afghanistan’s foreign minister, he certainly makes an impact as this sagacious official. Kumud Mishra, like always, is impressive. And away from the hijack drama, recording it all in print is the editor of a newspaper (Dia Mirza) and her correspondent. Then, we have a RAW agent (Anupam Tripathi of ‘Squid Game’ fame) with steely eyes and determination delivering on the dotted line, even after the hijack ends.
Vijay Varma, as captain Sharan of the plane who kept his cool in those trying circumstances, manages to mirror both the vulnerability and strength of a man caught in an unenviable situation. Are they heroes? Perhaps, yes, perhaps no. But, the series reminds us they did their job to the best of their ability. Why did the government do what it did, handing over dreaded terrorists like Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and a Pakistani-backed Kashmiri militant, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar? The government finds rationale in simple logic: human lives matter. Indeed, collateral damage in terrorism is a given. Whether it happens today or tomorrow, the choices are always tough. It’s this sobering thought that the well-shot series brings to the fore without shouting from the pulpit.
The final thoughts leave you with an uneasy feeling. ‘We won,’ says a member of the negotiating team. ‘Did we?’ responds another. ‘We fought!’ and ‘Did we?’ is the repartee. Writers Adrian Levy and Trishant Srivastav clearly get the gist of what the series intends to convey in this succinct conversation.
Watch it to know and understand more than what is already in the public domain. Beyond blame games, we all know there is always a human story and to err is human too.
