IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, Pankaj Kapur, Rajiv Thakur, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa and ensemble

Creator: Anubhav Sinha & Trishant Srivastava

Director: Anubhav Sinha & Trishant Srivastava

Streaming On: Netflix

Language: Hindi, English, Tamil & Telugu with English and Hindi subtitles

Runtime: 6 episodes of 40 minutes each

"Bandook lene ke baad yaad rakhna, jaan lene se pehle hazaar baar sochna lekin jaan bachane se pehle ek baar bhi nahi. Aaiye, chaliye, apne logon ki jaan bachate hain."

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack gives the most powerful dialogue in its last episode, giving this web series one of the highest points. But this line comes in the last episode, the line by the Indian Government, that comes after 6 days of around 200 Indians held hostage by 5 terrorists.

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack retells the trauma of the 8 days that were lived by 200 passengers and crew of the flight. The dreadful date of December 24,1999, still haunts those who were a part of this tragic and horrible event. The trauma still lives with all those who were a part of this mission. Those who were trapped and those who made sure to get everyone released safely.

The web series directed by Anubhav Sinha starts straight with the point - Why did the Indian government take 7 days to negotiate with the terrorists of the Kandahar hijack, and what happened in those seven days? The series gives an insightful take on how the last Christmas Eve of the millennium turned an unfateful clot in the history of Indian intelligence & security.

The story enters directly with the boarding of the passengers and the terrorists disguised as passengers. While there have been direct hints at who was involved, the series takes a brilliant turn as soon as the flight takes off. The series launches the very understandable government vs civilians struggle as soon as the hijack is announced. However, while it takes off smoothly, turbulence arrives as soon as the bunch of officers arrive in this web series.

This is interestingly the second hijack story we are witnessing from Bollywood after Sonam Kapoor's Neerja directed by Ram Madhvani. But here's the most basic difference between the two - while Neerja focussed on what happened inside, IC 814: The Kandahar Attack focusses on what happened outside. The struggle to devise a plan, to negotiate with the terrorists and the blame game all seems real in the story. There comes a point when the top officers of the government seem divided on what needs to be done and what could be done. Some favor the efforts, others point out the failures, and the fight puts up a strong narrative about another struggle at the bureaucratic level.