IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack review

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IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack Review: IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack, directed by Anubhav Sinha, revisits the traumatic 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814, which captivated the nation and led to a week of tense negotiations in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Netflix series explores the incident from multiple perspectives, intertwining the stories of the passengers, their families, the Indian government, and the hijackers. Sinha, known for his nuanced handling of socio-political themes, has crafted a gripping narrative that balances historical accuracy with dramatic storytelling.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack cast – Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Patralekha Paul, Aditi Gupta Chopra, Arvind Swami, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Anupam Tripathi, Dia Mirza, Armita Puri, Aditya Srivastava, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Yashpal Sharma, Sushant Singh
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack director – Anubhav Sinha

The performances are the backbone of this series. Vijay Varma stands out as Captain Devi Sharan, bringing a mix of resolve and vulnerability to the role. His portrayal as the pilot is layered, reflecting the immense pressure that the pilot faced during the crisis. Varma’s performance captures the moral dilemmas and the emotional strain of making key decisions.

1999 Hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight

The hijacking of Indian Airlines 814 in December 1999, the convoluted way the week-long hostage situation played out in far-flung locations, and its fall-out which is felt even today, became a case study in How Not To Handle A Hijack. Or, let me amend that.IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack review: In Anubhav Sinha’s last directorial, Bheed (2023), he came the closest to chronicling an untold true story – the migrant crisis fuelled by the coronavirus lockdown in 2020.

Despite documenting real-life events, he still enjoyed the liberty and luxury to piece together stories with his imagination. But in his debut web series, he pulls off the Herculean task of telling a historical hijack story through a holistic, accurate, and non-judgemental lens.

Evidently then, Anubhav’s focus is not on crafting an immersive hijack thriller. While that genre isn’t much dabbled in within India, Ram Madhvani’s 2016 film Neerja remains the gold standard. Like that real-life story, the airline staff wear their official responsibility like a badge of honour. Patralekhaa (as air hostess Indrani) brings deep empathy to her character, looking after the passengers like she’d have taken care of her ailing father waiting for her back home. Aditi Gupta (as air hostess Chhaya) also makes us look beyond her uniform and wonder if she’d have struck a chord with a hijacker in another world

The Period of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

This was the period of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s coalition government. India had defeated Pakistan in the Kargil war that same year. In such a situation, how did the terrorists’ conspiracy to hijack the plane succeed? How did the Indian intelligence agency not get a clue about this or despite getting the information, they did not take it seriously?

Why could the aircraft could not be stopped in Amritsar? How did Dubai released women and children? What was the reason for not getting the aircraft in Kabul? Why did the kidnapper took the plane? What kind of al-Qaeda was included in this conspiracy? Answers to many such questions have been tried to give six episodes in this series.Vijay Varma as Captain Sharan Dev emotes as organically around machines as he does around humans. He’s efficient, shrewd, soft, and generous in equal parts.

With a string of veteran actors including Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, and Arvind Swami. But the main lead of the series was definitely the brilliant Vijay Varma, who played the role of Captain Devi Sharan, the man who saved the lives of 187 out of 188 passengers in the aircraft. With so many veteran craftsmen with little screen time did justice to the time given to them on the show and most importantly every character was important. The most challenging bit for filmmaker was showing the series from different perspectives whether it were the hijackers, captain, cabin crew, the passengers, the ministers, diplomats and the journalists. Vijay Varma is known for his brilliant craft has shown how a hero doesn’t need to flex his muscles to connect with his audience. Captain Devi Sharan (Vijay Varma) understood that to maintain his cool was the need of the hour.

 

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