Amid the ongoing controversy over the series ‘IC-814 - The Kandahar Hijack’ on Netflix, the chief of the cabin crew of the hijacked flight, Anil Sharma, slammed the OTT show, saying that the makers compromised the story a little too much “for comfort” and also portrayed him in a “poor light”.
Anil Sharma, in an interview with with News9, also agreed with the outraged masses on social media over the changed names of the hijackers.
According to the then chief of cabin crew, he started watching the Netflix series but could not finish it yet because it was painful.
“I think they have compromised the whole story a little too much for comfort. Initially, I thought people were little over outraged..but I realised that there is some substance as to why there is so much uproar about the issue. Nothing convinces me the way things are portrayed,” he told News9.
Sharma added that the portrayal of the bureaucratic handling shown in the OTT show is very unconvincing.
“One of the negotiators portrayed in the web series - in this case Mr Ajit Doval…I met him several times, and he launched my book as well. I know what a serious guy he is when it comes to interacting with people. Here (in the series), they have shown a little buffoonery," he told the news channel.
{{/usCountry}}“One of the negotiators portrayed in the web series - in this case Mr Ajit Doval…I met him several times, and he launched my book as well. I know what a serious guy he is when it comes to interacting with people. Here (in the series), they have shown a little buffoonery," he told the news channel.
{{/usCountry}}According to Sharma, the hijackers did not assault anyone - except the junior most flight purser - as opposed to shown in the show.
“I find it hard to understand how these things make the script more crisp or to make it more watchable….all that they end up doing is avoidable controversy,” Sharma said, as quoted by the TV channel.
‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ controversy
The makers of the ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ series have been facing a huge backlash over the changing of names of the hijackers in the series. Angry social media crowd used hashtags like #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood and #IC814, with users claiming the makers changed the names of the hijackers to 'Shankar' and 'Bhola' to allegedly protect the terrorists who belonged to a certain community.
On the other hand, casting director Mukesh Chhabra said that the perpetrators used nicknames among themselves and that extensive research was carried out for the show.
Amid the massive row, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting summoned Netflix India's Head of Content on Tuesday.
Hours after the meeting, Netflix tweaked the opening disclaimer of the series by including the real and code names of the hijackers.
The series is an adaptation of the book, ‘Flight into Fear: The Captain’s Story,’ written by Captain Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury. It is based on the December 24, 1999, hijacking of an Indian aircraft by five terrorists, which happened just 40 minutes after the plane took off from Kathmandu.