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MIB summons Netflix officials over use of Hindu pseudonyms in ‘Kandahar Hijack’
‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ has stirred up a controversy with online calls to boycott Netflix over so-called whitewashing of the terrorists’ religion
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on Monday summoned officials from Netflix over the portrayal of the hijackers using Hindu pseudonyms in the streaming platform’s series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack”. “They should take care to not hurt the country’s sentiments,” a senior government official said.
In the series, the hijackers used pseudonyms to refer to each other in front of the passengers. These pseudonyms included “Bhola” and “Shankar”. This has stirred up a controversy with online calls to boycott Netflix over so-called “whitewashing” of the terrorists’ religion.
To be sure, in a January 6, 2000 statement available on the website of the ministry of external affairs, the home ministry had said, “To the passengers of the hijacked place [sic] these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another.” All five hijackers were listed as Pakistani citizens in the MHA statement and portrayed as such in the Netflix series, which HT has seen.
It is not clear whether the government has asked Netflix and the producers to edit the pseudonyms used by the terrorists. It is also not clear what other edits the MIB has asked for and if the series could be blocked by the government, or removed by the producers, distributors and/or Netflix.
HT could not determine who from Netflix and/or the production team was called. Calls and messages to Netflix officials and series director Anubhav Sinha went unanswered.
Separately, the official cited above said that the certification of actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Kangana Ranaut’s “Emergency” has been held up because of the concerns raised by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). “All complaints related to representation of religions are taken seriously, whether they be about Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians or Buddhists,” the official said.
