IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack director Anubhav Sinha on the controversy: I remained truthful with the script

Despite the uproar surrounding his latest web series, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, Anubhav Sinha, remains largely unfazed. A segment of the audience has accused the series of intentionally misrepresenting the religious identity of the five terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight in 1999. This on Tuesday prompted the OTT platform to add a disclaimer at the beginning of the show specifying the real names of the perpetrators.

“Pyaar bahut zyada aa raha hai. All the praise, love and pats on the back make everything else fade away,” Sinha tells us over a call, adding, “These controversies are something else entirely. I don’t want to play that game, nor do I know how to do that! I just know how to make a film; it is a very intensely researched project, and we have been working on it since June 2022 and remained truthful with the script.”

Several survivors have spoken out about their experiences post the release of the show, and Sinha says, “Although I don’t spend much time online these days, I’ve heard about the discussions. The audience stood by me in the same way when there were issues during Mulk (2018). As a filmmaker, I approach my work with a purist mindset, just like I did with Thappad (2020), Anek (2022) and Bheed (2023). Many are calling this my best work to date, saying it’s Anubhav 3.0. People are binge watching it too with family together which I am happy to know from the platform data. I have immense gratitude.”

On making his first webseries he says, “Going in long format. “The only hitch was that it will be shown on small screen. Initially dil thoda chota hota hai but then you forget as you are telling a story and nowadays most films are watched on TV and phone. When I did TV (Sea Hawks) it was 27 years back till then I had not made a film so that was also a big thing. But, when you trend in 42 countries then that feeling is also great.”

And, what’s next? “There are 4-5 scripts but now I am taking a breaking and will probably to a hill station, relax and then start afresh.”