With Bollywood trying out its fair share of projects based on real events, a controversy over alleged ‘altered’ facts, political differences or religious propaganda is not exactly new for the nation. Films like The Kerala Story, Article 375, The Kashmir Files and many more, are fine examples of how things went into chaos real quick, the minute debates were triggered over their facts, figures, and authenticity. Lengthening the list further, a new project joined the list after its release last month; Anubhav Sinha’s ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Story’. For those unaware, a huge controversy erupted after the web series aired for people to watch, resulting in yet another ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend on social media. But what is the controversy, and what’s its connection with Sinha’s series? Allow us to explain.

Before jumping into the reason behind the controversy, let’s take a brief look at what the IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Story was all about.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Story:

‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Story’ is a web series that was released on Netflix last month on the 29th. The series was directed by filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, where it was based on the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. The film was all about the 1999 hijack where the flight was reportedly taken under control shortly after its takeoff from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal. The ill-fated aircraft was scheduled to land at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, however, it never did.

The flight was reportedly detoured quite a few times before it finally landed in Afghanistan’s Kandahar. As per reports, the flight was then taken under the control of the Taliban. Coming back to the film- if representing the events was all the series had to do, then what triggered the controversy? Let’s take a look.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack Story Controversy Explained:

The entire matter as to why Sinha’s web series ended up triggering the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend, had a lot to do with names. Yes, the series, as per reports, used Hindu names like Bhola and Shankar for the hijackers. Meanwhile, the real event was reportedly committed by people with names that were far from any Hindu origin. As soon as audiences realised the same, the series ended up in the eye of the storm as all sorts of allegations were thrown at the web series and the filmmaker.

However, investigations then revealed that the names used in the series- Bhola and Shankar- were reportedly the codenames that were used during the hijack in reality. Basically, the filmmaker simply went for the names that were used as real codenames during the original incident itself. Regardless, the hashtag ‘Boycott Bollywood’ started trending. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has also called on the Netflix Content Head over the matter, as per ANI.

Coming back to the 1999 incident, the flight was hijacked in December 1999. The flight was reportedly diverted to multiple places like Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, after which 27 passengers were released. The demand behind the hijack was the release of 36 militants who were held at Indian prisons, along with USD 200 million in cash, as per reports. However, the Indian Government reportedly later agreed to release only three high-profile militants.

Reactions on the trend:

Taking to the internet, people shared their take and the majority criticised the film for ‘using Hindu names’.

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“Names of IC814 Hijackers changed to Shankar & Bhola by @anubhavsinha. This is how Bollywood let the TERRORISTS WIN: #BoycottBollywood #IC814TheKandaharHijack,” a user said.

“This is how the liberals whitewash the concept that terrorism has no religion,” added a second person.

“#Bollywood has always been a black mark on the nation. Bollywood never ever understood our nation's Interests. Bollywood shows India in bad light. IC 814 Terrorists were Islamic by religion, and in web series, they were named Hindus like Bhola & Shankar,” added a third.