The director of the series that dives into the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight on the importance of sticking to facts, the challenge of avoiding partisanship in a politically charged story, and more
On 24 December, 1999, an Indian Airlines plane flying from Kathmandu to Delhi was surreptitiously hijacked by five members of the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The demands put forth by the hijackers were simple yet extremely complex as they kept 190 passengers, including 11 crew members, hostage to secure the release of multiple prisoners held in India on charges of terrorism. A seven-day mighty struggle ensued that saw the aircraft being commandeered to multiple locations, including Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, and later to Kandahar, where all but one of the hostages were released after the Indian (coalition) Government heeded to the demands, drawing significant scrutiny and criticism for the release of three jailed terrorists.
The same ordeal, which is possibly one of the biggest geopolitical moments of independent India, is now the subject of ace filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s debut web series. Titled IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, the six-part show (released on Netflix on August 29) is based on the non-fiction book Flight Into Fear by Captain Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury and is best described as a slick, thrilling new rendition of the event that has captured the imagination of millions since its occurence. Sinha is credited as the creator, along with Trishant Srivastava (also story writer with Adrien Levy), and the 59-year-old filmmaker finds himself in the company of a solid central cast: Vijay Varma ‘pilots’ the series in the role of Captain Devi Sharan with Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Patralekha Paul, Dia Mirza, Arvind Swami, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and many others playing pivotal parts.
In essence, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack deep-dives into the convoluted scenario as it toggles between the on-air drama comprising the hijackers, the innocent passengers and the team of pilots, and the intense negotiations taking place on ground. Anubhav Sinha and Co. strive to not paint conclusions at any point and use the rhythm and pacing of a thriller to drive the message home, while carefully dealing with questions of morality, heroism and possible xenophobia. One might say the show treads a path too safe at times but it isn’t without doubt that both technically and subtextually, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack sets a new benchmark for Indian OTT. The Federal caught up with Anubhav Sinha to discuss what drew him to take on IC 814, his process of lending it his personal touch and much more. Excerpts:
Your work over the last few years has firmly centred on the social and political realities of the country, be it Mulk (2018), Article 15 (2019) or Bheed (2023). But this one, IC 814, is based entirely on a real-life incident from 25 years ago. What is the fundamental difference in how you approach the two?
Both Mulk and Article 15 sprouted out of real incidents but those films weren’t necessarily trying to document them as they were. With IC 814, you are doing exactly that and it must remain true to several milestone facts. The difference is that the latter case could limit you as a filmmaker and you could be bound by X number of milestones. Simultaneously, an incident such as this could become a resource that allows you to fill those gaps in facts with your general research and a bit of imagination and drama so that it is engaging and doesn’t become a documentary, per se.
With IC 814, you are compelled to stick to facts, truths and people/characters that exist in reality, as opposed to your previous films where you are tackling an incredibly vast socio-political issue that may not have a defined resolution. Did you feel freer as a filmmaker while making the web series? Or did all those peripherals restrict you?
No, they certainly did not restrict me. At the end of the day, I was dealing with facts that I was not aware of and it is these details that eventually become your flight. When I started out on IC 814, all I knew about the event was that a plane was hijacked, taken to Kandahar, three people were released by India and so on. But what really gives me the push (as a filmmaker) is that I get to meet all the people involved — those who were making the decisions and also those who kept the passengers hostage. I get to go to Kandahar in my mind, visit Amritsar, Dubai and many other places to figure out stuff and all these factors combined make for a really fertile ground for flight. At first glance, sure, it might seem like a confined space but it is still vast enough for you to explore and do something new. And IC 814 was very much new for me.
What attracted you to this idea? Because the Kandahar hijacking has been the subject of many shows, books, documentaries, etc. in the past.
I did not look at it that way when I came on board. I was simply interested in the story and the people who were participating in this, and very much intrigued by the untold. So, when I went into that realm with Adrien Levy (story writer) and Trishant Srivastava (co-creator), I discovered that there was so much that transpired — we had a coalition government at the helm, there were many bureaucrats involved, there was a cost to be evaluated and paid. You want to know who wanted the terrorists out (and why), where those people are today and so on. It was essentially a thriller that lasted eight days.
Vijay Varma as Captain Devi Sharan in IC814
As far as the previously made material is concerned, I will be honest in saying that I did not refer to any of the documentaries (even though I am sure many of them are very good). And that is only because I did not want to end up using them as source materials. I wanted to conduct my own research, read as much as I could and meet journalists of the time from both the subcontinent and foreign countries because I wanted a complete rebuild of the event for myself.
Did that personal touch also decide the look and feel of the show for you?
Yes, absolutely. The show’s first DOP, Ewan Mulligan, often nudges me into describing the different physical terrains of the story and that’s how the ball starts rolling. Kathmandu, for instance, was described as the underbelly of the event and that’s why Nepal looks a particular manner (with a bluish tint) in the show. The CMG (Crisis Management Group) are the people who like to play under the radar and not hit the spotlight. But this event brings them out into the open so that’s why those portions look overexposed. And there is a defined image of Kandahar city in our minds and we used many pictures that were clicked over the last 25 years as a reference to rebuild the place. That’s how the visual language was built. And fascinatingly, the edit, which audiences found pacy, engaging and whatnot, came together the way it did because I did not want the show to look like a period piece. I wanted it to look like it was being shot through today’s technical prowess. Even the background score includes a combination of strings and electronica.
Were you more interested in presenting a genre piece that’s a thriller first? Or were you more invested in the subtext of the story?
I think the most defining choice I made was to be interested in the people involved. The CMG team, the hijackers, the crew, the passengers, etc. — they all carry different shades and traits in that one of them is strong, the other weak, one is smart, the other is courageous and so on. I knew I wanted to deal with people and not their job positions.
There’s one bit in the opening episode which shows one of the hijackers flirting with a cabin crew member and one finds many such tiny details placed in the narrative. How did you imbue that kind of imagination into a ‘fact-heavy’ material?
It’s not all imagined because I met many people who then, in turn, made me privy to those I couldn’t meet. So, there’s a fair bit of information on most people in the room at any given point, which helped me create my own people or characters. And that flirting bit you refer to, it actually happened. The guy you see in that portion was known to be quite outgoing, friendly and a bit of a charmer. That is why he was chosen to be the mediator, of sorts, between the hijackers and the passengers. In fact, he was called ‘Burger’ by many because he spoke English.
Another very important aspect of a story such as this is the risk of causing partisanship. Many Indian, particularly Hindi, films of late have tended to be jingoistic in the name of war and honour and simultaneously vilified one specific community. Were you mindful or cautious of that?
See, I don’t like to second-guess my audience because I will fall flat on my face. Audiences might not be able to articulate their intelligence but they have an extremely diverse palette. This is a country where even films like Ardh Satya and Chakra were hits and at the same time, you see people consuming films of Manmohan Desai, Rohit Shetty and the likes. So, I would rather have a colour or a taste of my own and do what I feel organically about a particular story, hoping they would like it for what I have done with it. And as far as IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is concerned, my opinion about the event, the socio-politics and all of it is made clear by the end of the series. At the same time, you may find yourself in the middle of a landscape where you are free to have your opinion. In Mulk, Article 15 and other films, you were guided by my opinion but that’s not the case here. I am simply trying to transport you to a situation and let you decide what’s to be done. But at the end of the day, this is a thriller.
Finally, was it liberating for you to work on OTT considering it takes away the box-office pressure?
No, the box-office pressure stays because there is a lot of money behind its making. It is definitely liberating but also constricting, though I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
What are you working on next?
I am craving films at this point and I am working on some big films — with music, visual effects, action and whatnot but still with a voice retained.
