Recent sources indicate that Netflix India has promised the government that its future content will respect national sentiments.
This assurance comes after controversy erupted over the web series IC814 Kandahar Hijack, which portrays the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by the Pakistan-based terror group Harkjat-ul-Mujahideen.
The backlash resulted in a one-hour meeting between the streaming platform and the government.
According to a report by ANI, the government is treating the issues with great seriousness, and Netflix has assured that all future content will be mindful of the nation’s sentiment. The show has been accused of distorting the facts regarding the true identities of the hijackers.
Netflix Pledges Content Sensitivity
Government sources revealed that Netflix has assured a content review and committed to ensuring that all failure material on their platform will align with national sentiments.
Earlier, officials emphasized that no one has the right to meddle with the sentiments of the people of this nation, stressing the importance of respecting India’s culture and civilization, the government has taken this issue very gravely.
Netflix India’s Content head summoned
Official sources have revealed that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting summoned Netflix India’s content head Monika Shergill, on Tuesday to explain the contentious aspects of the series.
On Monday, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was also filed in the Delhi High Court, seeking a ban on the OTT series. The plea claimed that the series wrongly depicts the real hijackers with Hindu names, including Bhola and Shankar, which are alternative names for the Hindu God Shiva, thereby hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.
Who filed the petition?
The petition, filed by Suraj Singh Yadav, a farmer, and president of Hindu Sena, requests the center and Maharashtra government to revoke the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) certificate and ban the public viewing of the series.
The petition further argues that the series has distorted critical facts about the hijacker’s real identities and misinterpreted historical facts while perpetuating harmful stereotypes It demands court intervention to prevent further public misunderstanding and potential harm.
War of words on Social Media
The series has sparked a series of heated debates on social media. On one hand, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya has accused the filmmakers of promoting an agenda to obscure the crimes of Pakistani terrorists by assigning them Hindu names, potentially misleading future generations.
Conversely, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and Shiv Sena UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi criticized the outage as selective and highlighted the inconsistencies in demands for historical accuracy in cinema.
On social media platform X, hashtags such as #BoycottNetflix and #BoycottBollywood have trended with users accusing filmmakers of distorting history and minimizing the terror caused by the hijackers.
What was the Flight IC814 Kandahar hijack?
On December 24, 1999, flight IC 814, which was traveling from Kathmandu to Delhi with 176 passengers on board, was hijacked. The plane was taken to several locations before eventually landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The stand-off lasted seven days and concluded when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led Indian government agreed to the demand of hijackers. In exchange for the passengers’ release, India freed three high-profile terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Muhstaq Ahmed Zargar. Although efforts were made to save every passenger’s lives still one lost their life during the ordeal
IC 814 Kandahar Hijack web series was released on Netflix on 29 August 2024 starring Vijay Verma, Patralekha, Rajiv Thakur, Naseerudding Shah, and Pankaj Kapur
