Why Is Boycott Bollywood, Boycott Netflix Trending After Vijay's IC814 The Kandahar Hijack Release?

IC814: The Kandahar Hijack has landed in hot waters after a massive uproar among netizens regarding the change in the identity of hijackers in the series. The movie is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999, is directed by Anubhav Sinha, and stars Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swamy and Kumud Mishra.

Why Is The Internet Boycotting Vijay Varma's IC814 The Kandahar Hijack?

The crime thriller, released on August 29 on Netflix, is trending on X for all the wrong reasons. The netizens have pointed out that makers have changed the names of the hijackers in the series to Shankar, Bhola, Burger, Doctor and the Chief. Their original names were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny, Ahmad Qazi, Zahoor Mistry and Shakir. Calling in for a boycott of the series and Netflix, they accused the makers of "whitewashing" the events.

A user on X wrote, "Names of IC814 Hijackers changed to Shankar & Bhola by @anubhavsinha This is how Bollywood let the TERRORISTS WIN: #BoycottBollywood."

Another tagged MIB and Amit Shah in the post, and wrote, "This is just not acceptable @MIB_India @MIB_Hindi @AmitShahOffice @PMOIndia. This is insulting to the nation at large. The propagandists are the biggest perpetrators of the crime against national security and unity. #BoycottIC814."

Soon after the boycott moment intensified on X, casting director Mukesh Chhabra issued a clarification over the identity change and said that they did proper research before making the series. "I am reading so many tweets about the names of the hijackers. We did the proper research. They used to call each other by those names—nicknames or fake names, whatever you want to call them. And thank you, everyone, for loving the ensemble cast. A big thank you to my team, and especially to Anubhav Sinha for trusting us and giving me the freedom to explore (sic)," Chhabra wrote on X.

What's the reality behind the 'identity swap' in IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack?

Journalist-writer-lyricist Neelesh Misra, who wrote the book 173 Hours in Captivity: The Hijacking of IC814, cross-verified Chhabra's claims over the alleged identity change of the terrorists. He wrote, "Shankar, Bhola, Burger, Doctor and the Chief, the brother of then-jailed Masood Azhar himself. All the hijackers assumed false names. That is how they referred to each other and how the passengers referred to them throughout the hijacking. Regards, the author of the first book on the IC-814 hijacking."

The hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 and the subsequent hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release the three terrorists, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.

MIB summons Netflix Head of Content

After an uproar on X, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has summoned the Content Head of Netflix tomorrow, September 3, over a content row.