'IC814' Row: IB Ministry summons Netflix India's Head Of Content; netizens say, 'Enough Is Enough'

While Anubhav Sinha’s ‘IC 814’ is getting praises for its performances and story-telling, netizens are upset on seeing that two terrorists are being referred to with Hindu codenames. In 1999, the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked by the militant outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen that operated out of Pakistan. The series has been termed as gripping and insanely terrifying by some. Airing on Netflix, it talks about the challenges faced by the passengers and crew members as the flight finally ended up in Kandahar in Afghanistan which was then under Taliban rule. 

In the series, the hijackers have been given codenames like Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar. Netizens are angry with names like Bhola and Shankar, which was Hindu names, and also refer to Lord Shiva. They have lashed out at Anubhav Sinha on social media. This is not the first time he has is facing such censure from trolls. They feel the makers could have used Muslim names. The real names of the five were Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir. The series is an adaptation of the book 'Flight into Fear: The Captain's Story'. It is written by journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury and Devi Sharan, who was the flight captain. 

Anubhav Sinha has brought together a very talented star cast for the same with names like Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swami, Anupam Tripathi, Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, and Kumud Mishra. It is known as one of the worst aviation disasters in India. Amit Malviya who heads the BJP IT-cell posted on X, “Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names.” 

Angry netizens want the show to be removed from Netflix India. If that does not happen, then Netflix should be banned they feel. A netizen posted on X, “Indian government should ban Netflix and all those involved with this web series. The producer and director should be behind bars under NSA.” Another netizen wrote, “Netflix Content Head has been summoned tomorrow by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting over the 'IC814' web series content row. What kind of action you want? Me- Either ban the Series. If Netflix refuses to do so.......Ban Netflix! Enough is enough!”