"Don't Know Why Controversy, Names Factual": IC-814 Passenger On Netflix Row

The new Netflix series 'IC-814 Kandahar Hijack' - on the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 by Pakistan-based terrorists - is "based on a real event and the names (of the hijackers, which has led to a row over historical accuracy) are factual", Pooja Kataria, one of 189 people held hostage, has said.

She called on people to view the show as entertainment and not as controversy.

"I don't know why people are making a controversy... this is based on a real event and the names were also factual," she told news agency ANI Wednesday, indicating she had been well-treated. "One hijacker, called 'burger' celebrated my birthday and gifted me his shawl. Another, 'doctor', used to give speeches on Islam we were on the plane and seemed to be an intelligent individual."

"We were returning from Nepal when the plane was hijacked. There were 176 passengers on the flight... there were five hijackers. We were all scared and didn't have any idea of what was happening. We were given nothing to eat, except a small apple," Ms Kataria said of a hostage situation resolved after the then Indian government was forced to exchange three terrorists.

Pooja Kataria's comment follows a heated row over Netflix's use of two terrorists' code names - 'Bhola' and 'Shankar'. Critics have accused the OTT giant of distorting facts, misrepresenting the identities of the terrorists - named by the Home Ministry in 2000 as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir - and offending Hindu sentiments.

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The ministry also noted that during the hijacking the terrorists called each other only by code names, two of which were 'Bhola' and 'Shankar', and the others were 'chief', 'doctor', and 'burger'.

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Nevertheless, as the row over the terrorists' code and real names gathered steam, the government summoned senior Netflix executive Monika Shergill and told "nobody has the right to play with people's sentiments". The company later updated the opening disclaimer to include real and code names.

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Ms Kataria isn't the only ex-hostage to have spoken up on the series.

Anil Sharma, who was a steward on the flight, spoke to news agency IANS, but he had a different perspective, stating some of the scenes in the web series are fictional and that the names 'Bhola' and 'Shankar' were "imaginary... and not their (the terrorists') real names".

"The intent of the makers of web series did not seem good to me," he declared.

The Netflix show is inspired by events on board flight IC-814 and on ground in Kandahar and Delhi, as well as the book 'Flight Into Fear: The Captain's Story' by Devi Sharan, who was the plane's captain.

It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur in key roles.

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