Netflix India's Monika Shergill, has been summoned by IB ministry

Summoned over controversy around web series "IC 814 - The Kandahar Hijack"

Web series deliberately altered names of hijackers to "Bhola" and "Shankar"

In a significant development, the head of content at Netflix India, Monika Shergill, has been summoned by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry following a major controversy surrounding the upcoming web series “IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack.”

The series, based on the infamous 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, has sparked widespread outrage on social media.

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The controversy stems from accusations that the web series deliberately altered the names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar.” The series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is inspired by the book Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story by Devi Sharan, the flight’s captain, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. It features prominent actors Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, and Pankaj Kapur.

The hijacking, which occurred on December 24, 1999, involved the takeover of flight IC 814, which was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi with 191 passengers onboard. The plane was eventually diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan, after stops in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai. The Indian government, led by then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was compelled to release three notorious terrorists, including Masood Azhar, to secure the hostages’ release.

The controversy escalated when BJP leader Amit Malviya criticized the filmmakers for allegedly obscuring the hijackers’ Muslim identities by using non-Muslim names, accusing them of promoting a leftist agenda through cinema.