(Image source from: Twitter.com/NetflixIndia)
There is an ongoing controversy over the Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' over using the Hindu names for the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight 25 years ago. According to India Today, two survivors from the IC 814 flight shared their personal experiences about the incident and talked about how Netflix projected the incident.
They said that Netflix did not have any important incidents that took place inside the plane but mostly exposed truths and focused on the political angle.
Rakesh, one of the survivors, said, “ I remember that two of the five hijackers had the code names, Bhola and Shankar”. This was one of the allegations on Netflix for using the Hindu names of the hijackers.
They stated that all the terrorists who were part of the hijack were Muslims, but they used coded Hindu names. This is not made up by Netflix, the series have projected the truth mostly.
One more lady survivor also talked about the series. She also said that the five hijackers were named as “Burger, Doctor, Bhola, Shankar and Chief”. She also cleared that what Netflix is showing is actually what they went through.
She also said that Netflix mostly concentrated on the political angle including the negotiations between hijackers and the Indian government and has left many incidents that took place inside the plane.
She also told that there were 26 couples inside the flight returning from Nepal from their honeymoon, in which Rachna and Rupin Katyal were one among, where Rupin was killed by the hijackers. She also said that the hijackers asked the passengers to keep their heads down from shifting their seats, exactly how they showed in the series.
She also noted that the hijackers were prepared for two days and thought the deal would be closed in two days. When they stepped in, they asked the stewardess whether they had enough water for two days. She even thought that they would be released soon after some negotiations, but the hijack lasted for seven long days.
Pooja also said that one of the hijackers by the name of Doctor, gave a preaching on the flight asking all of them to change to Islam. As per Pooja, the Doctor said that Islam is a better religion than Hinduism. He gave at least three such speeches. She also got a shawl from one of the hijackers autographed by Burger, where it's written to my dearest sister and her handsome husband, Burger – 30/12/1999.
The external affairs ministry has identified the terrorists as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoot Mistry, and Shakir.
