‘Bhola, Shankar names not given by filmmakers’: IC-814 cabin crew head amid ‘The Kandahar Hijack’ controversy

IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack Row: Cabin crew head, Anil Sharma, of the Indian Airlines aeroplane IC-814, has defended the use of aliases ‘Bhola and Shankar’ for the hijackers in the Netflix original docu-series ‘IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack’. Sharma's remarks come amid a controversy that broke out over director Anubhav Sinha using the aliases of the Pakistan-based terrorists in place of their original names.

Anil Sharma, who was onboard the hijacked Kathmandu-Delhi Indian Airlines flight IC-814, said, "They (the terrorists) had these names right from the beginning, and it should be borne in mind that the names were not given by filmmakers," Sharma remarked.

"Why they kept two names by which we know our Hindu gods, cannot be speculated because the issue is 24 years old, maybe they had some mischief in their minds because the other three had very neutral names... " Sharma added.

Sharma also lashed out at the makers of IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack and said, 'I don't think I feel very comfortable with this arrangement'.

Anil Sharma flagged that Anubhav Sinha, director of IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack, could have added the disclaimer about the real and code names earlier before the I&B ministry intervened. "Why couldn't they do it earlier? Why is it that each time, there has to be an outcry about Hindu sentiments being hurt before collective action is taken? They could have done this in the beginning, " Sharma said in a video.

WATCH VIDEO OF IC-814 CABIN CREW HEAD ANIL SHARMA

"They have even changed the names of the pilots, flight engineers, and even my name. Two hostesses have been changed, and five cabin crew have not even been shown." Sharma added.

The head cabin crew of the hijacked flight also lashed out at OTT giant Netflix and said, "Initially, Netflix was becoming very aggressive about it but now they have backtracked and put a disclaimer".

Netflix updates disclaimer ‘to include real, code names of hijackers’

Netflix India issued an official statement on Tuesday addressing the controversy surrounding the Anubhav Sinha-directed ‘IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack.’ The OTT platform's content head for India announced that the disclaimer of the web series has been updated to ‘include the real and code names of the hijackers.’

The Netflix docuseries ‘IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack,’ has been facing criticism from a section of social media users over its portrayal of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. The series, based on real events, dramatises the hijacking by the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.