'Censorship is Only For...': Kangana Ranaut Reacts to Controversial Netflix Series IC 814

New Delhi: 'Censorship is only for some of us, who don’t want tukde of this nation', actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut said in a post on X amid the ongoing controversy over Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'. For the unversed , a section of social media users are asking for the boycott of the series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident.

“The law of the land is that one can show unimaginable amount of violence and nudity on OTT platforms without any consequence or censorship, one can even distort real-life events to suit their politically motivated sinister motives, there is all the freedom for communists or leftists across the world for such anti national expressions but as a nationalist no OTT platform allows us to make films that revolves around the integrity and unity of Bharat, it seems censorship is only for some of us who don’t want tukde of this nation and make films on historic facts. It’s hugely demotivating and unjust,” (sic), Kangana’s X post read.

Her tweet came in response to BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya's post on X. “The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814. Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” Malviya posted.

He added, "This will not just weaken/put in question India’s security apparatus in the long run, but also shift the blame away from the religious cohort, that is responsible for all the bloodshed,” he added. Reposting the same, Kangana wrote that it is demotivating to see projects with alleged distorted facts are run without censorship on OTT while projects like her film, Emergency, have to face censorship hurdles.” 

I&B Ministry summons Netflix Content Head

Meanwhile, the government has summoned the content head of OTT platform Netflix over the series 'IC-814 -- The Kandahar Hijack', which has triggered a row over depiction of hijackers. Official sources said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has summoned the content head of Netflix India on Tuesday, seeking an explanation on the allegedly contentious aspects of the OTT series. The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has kicked off a row with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.

IC 814 Row

The makers of a web series IC 814 have come under fire as hundreds of social media users have accused them of allegedly altering the names of the hijackers to 'Bhola' and 'Shankar.'  Featuring Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, and Pankaj Kapur in pivotal roles, the series portrays the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The flight, with 191 passengers on board, was traveling from Kathmandu to Delhi when it was seized by five hijackers disguised as passengers.

The plane made stops in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai before being taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Faced with a dire situation, the government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three dangerous terrorists—Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar—from Indian prisons to secure the hostages' freedom. Reports indicate that Taliban authorities assisted the hijackers and the freed terrorists in reaching Pakistan.

A Union Home Ministry statement dated January 6, 2000, named the hijackers as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.