Netflix is locked in a legal dispute with Asian News International (ANI) over the streaming giant's hit series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'.
Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series is a fictionalized version of the 1999 hijacking of Air India Flight 814, which was en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi when it was diverted to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The series currently holds the second spot on Netflix's list of the top 10 non-English language international series.
In a suit filed in the Delhi High Court, the news agency alleged copyright infringement over ANI-produced archive footage used in the series, and demanded the removal of four episodes of the six-episode show. Netflix declined to comment when contacted. diverse Because it is an ongoing legal matter, the court is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday.
The series has been in turmoil since it began airing on August 29. Some social media users have taken umbrage at the fact that the hijackers depicted in the series have all been given Hindu names, despite being Muslims from Pakistan. A member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party posted on Twitter: “The IC-814 hijackers were horrific terrorists who adopted pseudonyms to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha legitimized their criminal intent by promoting their non-Muslim names. The result? Decades later, people will believe that IC-814 was hijacked by Hindus.”
But a statement issued by the Indian Home Ministry in 2000 (India was under BJP rule from 1998 to 2004) and available in the public domain confirms the identities of the Pakistani Muslim hijackers and states: “To the occupants of the hijacked place, these hijackers became known respectively as (1) Shiv, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers always addressed each other.”
To clarify, Netflix has updated the disclaimer that appears before the show in India. “For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking of Air India Flight 814, the opening disclaimer has been updated to include the real and code names of the hijackers,” Netflix said.
Based on the book “Flight into Fear” by Captain Devi Sharan and Sringjoy Chaudhary, the series examines the crisis from multiple angles. It offers a multi-faceted view of the incident, highlighting the tense negotiations in the Delhi war room, the high-stakes diplomacy in Taliban-controlled Kandahar, and the harrowing ordeal faced by the passengers and crew on the hijacked plane.
This is the second time this year that Netflix has faced calls to remove Indian content from its service. In January, the Tamil-language film “Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food,” starring “Jawan” actor Nayanthara, was pulled from Netflix after receiving multiple complaints from Hindu groups, who filed police complaints on the grounds that it offended Hindu religious sentiments.
“The film has been removed at the request of the licensor,” a Netflix spokesperson said. diverse At the time. The film has since resurfaced on streaming platform Simply South.
In 2021, Prime Video was forced to apologise for its original Indian series “Tandav”, some parts of which had angered members of the Hindu nationalist ruling regime.
