Vijay Varma On Playing Real Life Character In IC814 The Kandahar Hijack: Not Imitating Anyone

Actor Vijay Varma on Tuesday said the best compliment he got for his role in "IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack" was from Captain Devi Sharan, whose character he portrays in the Netflix series. Based on true events, the six-episode series dramatises the 1999 hijacking incident of the IC 814 Indian Airlines flight by terrorists. Captain Sharan had served as the head pilot of the flight during the incident which lasted for more than a week.

“Stories come to you at a certain point when you are ready to do them or sometimes stories get you ready for something, these things are so invisible. It is too philosophical to make sense of it," Varma said at the show's press meet event here.

"But I was happy that Captain Devi Sharan enjoyed the work, he called and gave me a pat on the back. Also, Mrs. Sharan said, ‘I know this man more than he knows himself and I can tell you that you’ve come very close to him’," he added. The actor, known for his nuanced performances in “Dahaad”, “Darlings” and “Gully Boy”, said he was clear from the onset that his performance should not feel like an imitation.

“There was no effort to make him sound like a real-life captain, that was never the intention. He (Sinha) never showed me a picture of young Devi Sharan, or we’ve to achieve this. For the entire series, the intention was very clear that we were not imitating anyone’s character," Varma added. The actor said when he met Captain Sharan, he found him to be a "soft-spoken, sincere and dedicated" individual.

"So I tried to keep that energy with him. I tried to keep the spirit of the person that I met... I’m thankful that this happened, and he (Sinha) was capturing it through a lens that worked well because the camera was always right next to my face all the time and there was a green screen in front of me,” he said.

The press event was also attended by director Sinha, and Varma's co-stars -- Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Dia Mirza, Pooja Gor, and others. Sinha thanked the audience and his cast for their love and support.

“It is something that you’re hoping that people will like. It would be too pompous to imagine something like this would happen... but it is overwhelming, it makes you feel smaller. The amount of love that is being offered to us is outstanding,” he added.

At the event, the director got into a brief argument with a journalist, who asked him to comment on the controversy around the show. A section of viewers on social media have objected to the humane projection of terrorists and reference to their Hindu code names as well as the portrayal of Pakistan's spy agency ISI in the series. The journalist asked the filmmaker about the accusation that he had not correctly portrayed the role of ISI in the hijacking plot.

"Kaun aap laga rahe hai aarop? Aapne series dekhi hai?' Series dekhi hai? Main aap se baat hee nahi kar sakta aapne series nahi dekhi hai. (Who are you alleging? Have you seen the series? Have you? I can't talk to you since you haven't watched the series)," Sinha said. Earlier on Tuesday, Netflix India released a statement, saying it has updated the opening disclaimer of the series to include the real and code names of the hijackers.

The statement came after the streamer's content head Monika Shergill met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju. Actor Dia Mirza, who has been a constant Sinha's earlier movies “Dus”, “Thappad” and "Bheed", said it was wonderful to play an "intelligent thinking empowered woman". "I respect Anubhav Sinha for the fact that he has always given me to play such women, it’s such a privilege. I’m grateful to him, for the way he writes women's parts,” Mirza said.

Seasoned actor Manoj Pahwa, another frequent collaborator of Sinha, said he relied completely on the script to portray Mukul Mohan, additional director of IB in “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack”. “For me, the script is the bible and I just keep reading it. I don’t know how I got the layers into my character. Magic has happened but I don’t know how it happened,” Pahwa said. Actor Patralekha, who played the role of an air hostess, said the show took a toll on her physical and mental health.

“We were shooting last year during the rains. We were over 100 people on the flight, and someone got fever, and then we were all down with fever. Anubhav sir was shooting with a 102-degree fever, but the show went on," she said.