This Is Why Netflix Is Adding Disclaimers to IC-814: The Kandahar Hijacking
Netflix announced Tuesday that it will add new disclaimers to an Indian series about a plane hijacking, after social media outrage and government anger over alleged Muslim hijackers being depicted as Hindus.
The series, called IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack, a fictionalized version of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, was released on Netflix last week. The series was immediately criticized for what social media users called a misrepresentation of the hijackers as Hindus with Hindu names when they were Muslim.
Netflix officials were summoned to India’s information and broadcasting ministry on Tuesday, local media reported, and the streaming platform said shortly afterward that it would update the disclaimer. There was no comment from the government.
“For the benefit of viewers unfamiliar with the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, the opening disclaimer has been updated to include the real names and code names of the hijackers,” Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content, Netflix India, said in a statement.
#BoycottNetflix trended on X over the weekend, with several users, as well as members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), criticizing the series for portraying the hijackers in a positive light and misleading the public into thinking they were Hindu.
Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s social media unit, said the series “legitimised the criminal intentions” of the hijackers and misled people into thinking the plane had been hijacked by Hindus.
India blames Pakistan and Pakistan-based militant groups for the December 1999 hijacking, which was resolved after New Delhi released three Islamist militants, including Masood Azhar, the leader of one of the groups.
The series, which comes almost 25 years after the incident, stars actors Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Kapur and is based on the book “Flight into Fear”, written by flight captain Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.
Netflix and other streamers, such as Amazon’s Prime Video, have faced complaints about their content in the past, particularly from Hindu groups, who said their content offended the sensibilities of the country’s religious majority.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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