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All is not well with the makers of the Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, which was released on the OTT streaming platform on August 29, 2024. The show has been directed by Anubhav Sinha and stars Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, and Arvind Swamy in the lead roles. However, the series has grappled with a heated controversy since its release. Many netizens have accused the makers of the Netflix series of allegedly deviating from history and showing some grave factual error. A PIL has also been filed at the Delhi High Court seeking a ban on the show. For the unversed, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is based on the actual hijacking incident in 1999 on the Indian Airlines Flight 814 flying from Kathmandu (Nepal) to Delhi (India).
Why Bholaa & Shankar?
It all began when upon its release, many netizens observed that the names of the terrorists were being hailed as ‘Bhola’ and ‘Shankar’ in IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, who in actuality were called Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar, Sunny Ahmed, Zahoor Mistry, and Shakir. This angered several netizens, and soon trends of #BoycottNetflix began to flood on X. A screenshot has also been going viral on X wherein it has been mentioned that Bhola and Shankar are said to be shown as the code names of the terrorists since they could not reveal their actual names during the hijack. But netizens are hurling brickbats at the makers of the series, stating that this hurts Hindu sentiments since Bhola and Shankar are also said to be other names for Lord Shiva.
Argument: Anubhav Sinha kept the names Burger, Doctor, Chief, Bhola and Shankar because those were the code names the terrorists used for each other in their mission.
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If he wanted to stick to the plot so closely, why did he change Jaswant Singh’s character’s name to Vijaybhan…
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) September 2, 2024
Social Media Is Angry
Netizens lashed out at Netflix and director Anubhav Sinha for allegedly distorting the facts in IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. Some netizens are trending Boycott Bollywood too, accusing the film industry of always distorting facts when it comes to the Hindu community. Apart from this, many angry netizens have been brutally trolling Anubhav Sinha on his Instagram page.
