Netflix will add disclaimers to Indian hijack drama after outrage over Hindu names

Netflix updated the disclaimer for its Indian series ‘IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack’ after facing backlash for portraying Muslim hijackers as Hindus

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Vijay Varma (right) plays a pilot in IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” a 2024 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller drama television miniseries about the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. Photo: SCMPOST

Published: 10:05pm, 3 Sep 2024Updated: 10:38pm, 10 Sep 2024

Netflix said on Tuesday it will add new disclaimers to an Indian series about a plane hijack after social media outrage and government anger over what they said were Muslim hijackers being shown as Hindus.

The series, called IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack, a fictionalised version of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 from Kathmandu, was released on Netflix last week.

It was immediately criticised for what social media users said was a wrong portrayal of the hijackers as Hindus with Hindu names when they were Muslims.

Netflix faces backlash, for misrepresentation of the religion of hijackers in the series “IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack”. Photo: SCMPOST

Netflix officials were summoned to India’s information and broadcasting ministry on Tuesday, local media reported, and the streaming platform said soon after that it will update the disclaimer.

There was no comment from the government.

“For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, the opening disclaimer has been updated to include the real and code names of the hijackers,” Monika Shergill, Vice-President, Content, at Netflix India, said in a statement.

#BoycottNetflix was trending on X over the weekend, and several users as well as members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised the series, saying it showed the hijackers in a positive light and misled audiences into thinking they were Hindu.