Centre summons Netflix India's content head amid row over 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' web series: Sources

The show is based on the real hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in 1999

The ministry of information & broadcasting has summoned Netflix India's content head on Tuesday amid row over the 'IC 814' web series, ANI has reported quoting sources.

Netflix's show 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', based on the real life hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistani terrorists in 1999, has caused a storm on social media over the names of the terrorists used by the showmakers.

Using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood and #IC814, many X users shared posts claiming the makers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' to allegedly protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community.

A user accused Anubhav Sinha, the director of the show, of "deliberate distortion of facts" as well as termed the series "propaganda".

However, Mukesh Chhabra, a prominent casting director in the industry, said the terrorists used "nicknames or fake names" to address each other.

"I am reading so many tweets about the names of the hijackers. We did the proper research. They used to call each other by those names—nicknames or fake names, whatever you want to call them." "And thank you, everyone, for loving the ensemble cast. A big thank you to my team, and especially to Anubhav Sinha for trusting us and giving me the freedom to explore. #IC814 #Netflix," he wrote on X.

Five terrorists Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter and Sayed Shakir hijacked the IC-814 plane during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24 that year.

At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar.

The Netflix show is inspired by the book 'Flight Into Fear: The Captain's Story' written by Devi Sharan, the captain of the flight, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.

(With inputs from PTI)