After a 27-year break from television, experienced Indian filmmaker Anubhav Sinha makes his streaming series debut with “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack” on Netflix.
The six-part thriller, based on the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in 1999, marks Sinha’s first return to long-form storytelling since his early days in television, where he worked on the DD Metro series “Sea Hawks,” among others.
The drama, based on the book ‘Flight into Fear’ by Captain Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhury, examines the crisis from multiple angles. It offers a multi-layered view of the incident, showing the tense negotiations in the Delhi war room, the high-stakes diplomacy in Taliban-controlled Kandahar and the horrific ordeal faced by passengers and crew on board the hijacked aircraft.
Sinha, known for socially critical films such as “Article 15” and “Thappad”, was initially reluctant to make a series. “I was making films, so I wasn’t interested,” he says. diversityHowever, a persistent pitch from Monika Shergill, Head of Content at Netflix India, and the project’s extensive research changed his mind.
The series was developed by Sinha and Trishant Srivastava (Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga), and directed by Sinha. The story is by Adrian Levy and Srivastava. It is produced by Matchbox Shots and Benaras Mediaworks, and produced by Sarita Patil and Sanjay Routray.
“When I started, I thought I knew everything about it,” says Sinha. “But when the research started and we had Adrian on board, things started to reveal themselves, not just in India, but in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in Washington, everywhere. Then I realized I knew nothing about it. That was the driving force to dive deeper and deeper.”
The transition from feature film to series presented both challenges and opportunities for Sinha. “You’re constantly aware that you’re going to see this mostly on laptops, tablets and mobile phones,” he explains, pointing out the potential limitations on visual detail. But the flexibility of the format also offered him freedom: “We didn’t have a set number of episodes when we were writing, so you could take as much time as the story needed.”
Sinha and his team developed the visual style of the series with meticulous planning. “Ewan (Mulligan, the cinematographer alongside Ravi Kiran Ayyagari) asked me a very important question. He said, ‘Anubhav, are we recreating what happened?’ I said, ‘No, the event is happening again. We are sending our cameras and crew back in time.'” This decision resulted in a contemporary shooting style applied to historical events.
The series’ visual palette evolves as the story takes place in multiple locations. “We decided that each location would be different from the previous one,” explains Sinha. From bright, overcast Kathmandu to misty Amritsar to the golden hues of Dubai, each location has a distinctive look designed to convey the emotional and physical distance of the journey.
Filming at an airport in Jordan was particularly challenging due to its proximity to the Israeli border. “Sometimes there would be surprise instructions saying we couldn’t shoot in that direction right now, or that we couldn’t shoot for two hours,” Sinha recalls. “During those two hours, we didn’t know why, because it was a very high security area.”
The series boasts an ensemble cast that includes Vijay Varma, Kanwaljeet Singh and Arvind Swami. Sinha thanks casting director Mukesh Chhabra for helping to put the group together. “When we found Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa and Aditya Srivastava, we thought we were done,” says Sinha. “But then two more characters came along who were just bubbling away and then they became what they became.” Veterans Pankaj Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah were cast as the heads of the Indian government’s crisis management group.
Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah in IC814: The Kandahar Hijack
Netflix
Although IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is a self-contained story, Sinha remains open to future streaming projects with Netflix. His immediate focus, however, is returning to feature films. “I’m dying to make films and I’m working on some scripts right now,” he says. “I want to make bigger films than the ones I’ve been making recently. Still films with a voice, but bigger films that are more box office-focused.”
Sinha’s career has spanned genres, from romantic comedies to action blockbusters like “Ra.One” (2011), starring Shah Rukh Khan. Now he wants to combine his recent socially critical works, including “Bheed” (2023), “Anek” (2022), “Article 15” (2019) and “Mulk” (2018), with large-scale productions. “I’ve longed to do music, I’ve longed to do action, I’ve longed to do visual effects,” he says.
While IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack will be released worldwide on Netflix on August 29, Sinha stresses that he has not changed his approach for an international audience. “I believe that the more authentic and local you make it, the more appealing it will be, because that’s a taste they’ve never had,” he says. “I’ve tried to stay as true to the material as possible.”
