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

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MUMBAI (Reuters) – Netflix said on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, it will add new disclaimers to an Indian series about a plane hijack after social media outrage and government anger over what they said was Muslim hijackers being shown as Hindus.

The series, called “IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack,” a fictionalized version of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 from Kathmandu, was released on Netflix last week. It was immediately criticized for what social media users said was a wrong portrayal of the hijackers as Hindus with Hindu names when they were Muslims.

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) criticized the series, saying it showed the hijackers in a positive light and misled audiences into thinking they were Hindu.

Amit Malviya, who heads BJP’s social media unit, said the series “legitimised the criminal intent” of the hijackers and misled people into thinking that Hindus hijacked the plane.

India blames Pakistan and Pakistan-based militant groups for the December 1999 hijack, which was resolved after New Delhi freed three Islamist militants, including Masood Azhar, the head of one such group.

The series, which comes nearly 25 years after the incident, has actors Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Kapur, among others, and is based on the book “Flight into Fear”, written by the captain of the flight Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.

Netflix, as well as other streamers such as Amazon’s Prime Video, have been at the receiving end of complaints over their content in the past, especially from Hindu groups, who say their content hurts the sentiments of the country’s majority religious population.