IC 814 web series is in dispute
Director Anubhav Sinha is once again in the limelight. IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack web series featuring actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Vijay Verma, relived old wounds by showing the Kandahar plane hijack incident. A series of accusations started against him. Someone said – this is counter cinema, meaning that some films were made focusing on the mistakes of the Nehru era and Indira era, showing the Kandahar hijack incident showed a mirror to the government. That is, every government has difficulties and shortcomings. Someone raised the question – here the terrorists are portrayed lightly, they are shown singing, playing music and playing Antyakshari. Some even said that by naming the terrorists ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’, future generations were misled and shown a false history. This is the reason why Anubhav Sinha’s detractors and fans also raised big questions on him.
Most people say that Netflix and the director of the series have made a serious mistake on this issue. The first question some people after watching the series was – why the names of the terrorists ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ were shown? When he was a Muslim terrorist. Why its Hindu name? Could the director-writer have avoided this? The allegations allege that ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ were used repeatedly in the series – how true is this? How often are references to ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ heard in the series? To what extent are these speeches capable of influencing the minds of the audience or changing history? How successful were the makers of the series in filming the story of the Kandahar Hijack? There are many such questions which we are going to discuss here today.
‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ controversies plague the series
However, after recent talks between Netflix India’s content head Monica Shergill and the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the initial disclaimer of the web series was amended. The real names of all the code names like ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ were also revealed. But if we go into the details of the story, the whole matter does not seem so innocent. Controversy started with these two names. Muslim terrorists are called ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ – how can this be tolerated? It didn’t take long for the uproar to go viral on social media and the complaint reached the government. But neither the series was banned nor any action was taken against Netflix, on the contrary it got tremendous publicity.
As a result, the horror stories of December 24, 1999 began to be heard once again. The pain of the eyewitnesses and victims of the terrorist incident was expressed. Today’s generation is faced with the horror story of those seven days of terror 25 years ago. Thus, only Netflix and IC 814 web series benefited from the entire controversy. Even people who never watch any web series wanted to watch it. In such a situation, the ‘Shankar’ and ‘Bhola’ controversy in the series is truly unique. Did ‘Shankar’ and ‘Bhola’ hide the identity of the terrorists?
When the government asked Netflix about this, it got the answer – the code names of the five terrorists at the time of the plane hijacking were – Chief, Burger, Doctor, Shankar and Bhola. They used to call each other by this code name. This fact is also in the government document. At the same time, this fact and incident is also mentioned in the book Flight into Fear on which the series is based. This book is written by Captain Devi Sharan himself along with Srijoy Chaudhary. The series stars actor Vijay Varma as Captain Devi Sharan, who flies IC 814. Captain Devi Sharan wrote what he saw at the scene.
Were the identities of the terrorists concealed?
Looking at the IC 814: Kandahar Hijack web series, the controversy surrounding these two names comes as little surprise. According to records, the real names and code names of the five terrorists were as follows – 1. Ibrahim, a resident of Bahawalpur, called Chief; 2. Shahid Akhtar Syed, he was a resident of Karachi and had the code name- Doctor; 3. Sunny Ahmed Kazi, also from Karachi and codenamed Burger; 4. Mechanic Zahoor Ibrahim, also from Karachi city, codenamed – Bhola; and 5. Shakir, who was a resident of Sukkur city, was codenamed Shankar.
These five terrorists had different positioning inside the plane and the work was also divided. The chief, burger and doctor mostly stayed around the pilot and in the cockpit, while Bhola and Shankar’s duties were with the passengers inside the aircraft. Both of them were threatening the passengers. At the same time, most pilots were calling the chief and burger for landing and takeoff.
It is noteworthy that the religious identity of all these terrorists is revealed from the very beginning of the series. The fact that these five are Muslim terrorists cannot be hidden from the pilot and passengers as well as the viewers of the series. When a terrorist asks to take the IC 814 plane to Lahore, Amritsar, Dubai or Kabul, his Muslim identity is clearly visible. Chief, Burger, Doctor, Bhola and Shankar are fake names – they are not hidden from anyone.
How serious is the issue of ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ in the series?
Given the controversies, the investigation of these two Hindu names in the series is surprising. In the first three episodes of the web series, the names ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ are not heard even once. When we come to the fourth episode of the series, around the 14th minute, the plane reaches Kandahar, in one scene Burger tells the passengers from the cockpit – “You can all hold your heads up now. My name is Burger. Behind us are two of our friends – Shankar and Bhola. Let’s do our work. They won’t do anything to you.”
In the same episode, around the 28th minute, as the smell of the toilet wafts inside the plane, Burger repeats – “Bhola, call the doctor, these people say… I can’t eat and can’t go.”
After this, the names ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ were never mentioned again in the fifth or sixth episode. That is, the name ‘Bhola’ is used only twice in the entire series and ‘Shankar’ once in the fourth episode. There was a lot of controversy over this and a boycott and ban campaign started on social media.
Did director Anubhav Sinha make a mistake?
Now the important question is why any terrorist is named ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ even once? Why extra precautions were not taken during its shooting? As the disclaimer has been updated after discussions with the government, if it had been pasted earlier or if the real names had been written through subtitles while calling the terrorists by codenames, it is possible that this controversy would not have arisen. But it’s also worth considering that changing history or misleading a new generation by calling ‘Bhola’ twice and ‘Shankar’ twice in a six-episode series wasn’t such a big mistake, when these names aren’t fake either. Neither fiction.
Interestingly, the entire series had a controversy over the codenames of the terrorists involved in the incident, but it was in the same series that the names of the then External Affairs Minister, RAW and IB officials or the Prime Minister’s Security Advisor came up. The minister was kept imaginary, no one paid attention to him. Pankaj Kapoor plays the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh but his name is Vijay Bhan Singh in the series. Similarly, the name of the character of former PM’s principal secretary Brajesh Mishra is Basant Mishra. Apart from this there are many other government officials whose names have been changed in Cinematic Liberty. It is possible that if their real names had been taken, the controversy would have become more intense, as the series is not a biopic of anyone. In such a situation, the team of the series showed wisdom in this matter. I wish the same wisdom would have been shown by providing disclaimers for the codenames of Chief, Burger, Doctor, Bhola and Shankar.
These incidents could have been avoided in the web series
Apart from this, some other things in the series also seem unnecessary. For example, many incidents involving editors and journalists. This could have been minimized. Sometimes there are incidents of going to Nepal. This too could have been reduced. However, the director and the entire creative team of the series kept the scene of terrorist playing music and chanting inside the plane only symbolically. It didn’t excite him. So that the terror and pain of that horrible terrorist incident can be felt. Archive footage is used very accurately throughout the series. Jaswant Singh’s press conference is taken from the archive and immediately switched to Pankaj Kapoor’s press conference scene. At the same time, instead of any artist as the Prime Minister, only the archive bait of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee is used. That is, in the series, the director has brought history alive by depicting the Kandahar plane hijack and the entire political-social situation of that time in an honest manner. Vijay Verma has done a great job as captain.
