IC 814 Review — Sucharita Tyagi
Kahaaniyan kehte jaayein, koi sune na, kuch asar na padey, toh kahaani kehne ka maksad originally kya hai aapka?
Baakiyon ka pata nahi, Anubhav Sinha yeh khud se savaal pochote hain har khud ki production se pehle, yeh atleast soch ke accha lagta hai.
Aao unke latest kaam ke baare mein karein baate.
Today come lets talk about Anubha Sinha’s series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack starring Vijay Varma, Dia Mirza, Manoj Pahwa, Naseerudding Shah, and honestly like 20 other incredible actors, now streaming on Netflix.
25 saal purana yeh vaakya, millennials ko toh shayad yaad ho. Cast se jab baat bhi ki mainey, poocha tha ki memory hai uss din ki, jab 24 December 1999 ko, 24 hours news cycle se pehle, yeh khabar Doordarshan par aayi ki Kathmandu se uda air india ka jahaaz hijack hua hai. Pehli baar yeh shabd suna tha, “hijack”, and I remember thinking, Hindi mein kya kahenge isko? Apaharan? Inanimate pbject ko kidnap kaise kar sakte hain?
Uss airplane ke pilot ki kitaab Flight Into Fear se prerit ho, yeh series mein savaal yehi hai. Joh plan uss din hijack hua, uske andar baithe 176 yaatriyon ka apaharan hi toh hua tha, toh kya uss vaakye ko as a human story nahi dekhna chahiye, instead of just an act of disruption, organized crime, a historical event?
Uss din, aur uss hafte ki human cost ko establish karne Anubhav Sinha istemal karte hain stereotypical, well establishing shots. Uss ill-fated viman mein chadte huye logon ka predictable montage, kaptaan ki parivaar ko kari gayi ek aakhiri phone call, muskuraati air stewardess, aur kayi overhead bins mein rakhe jaa rahe cabin bags ke shots. Mundane hai, overtly familiar bhi, shayad isi liye yahaan rakha bhi hai. Ki joh aane waala chaos, woh iss sab ke mukaable aur jaaring lage. Ek udaan joh bilkul hi routine thi, kitni jaldi ek bure sapne mein tabdeel hui.
Yeh show yeh bhi kehna chaah raha hai ki ek ya do nahi, 600 directions se 600 kism ke log iss din se jude they, and as such major chunks of the action take place in multipe locations, not just on the aircraft. Kathmandu ka sub-plot jismein abhineta Anupam Tripahti, nazar aate hain. Ek doosri ore Delhi mein ek newspaper jisko kuch kuch khabrein mil rahi hain, editor Dia Mirza is reticent. Chhapein ya nahi chhapein, press ki responsibility etc. A control room also in Delhi with the chiefs of staff butting heads, and the flight itself. Of these, the writing focuses mostly on Delhi mein sarkaaari officials aur Kathamdnu se Kandahar pohoncha plane. Media ki involvement is event mein thi ya nahi, uska asar hua ya nahi, yeh mudda uth ta zaroor hai, par kisi khaas impactful nishkarsh par pohonchta nahi, Dia Mirza aur Amrita Puri kuch banter karti hain, disagree karti hain, par joh sub-plot yeh kehna chaah raha tha, ki media ko responsible hona padega nahi toh larger scheme of things mein nuksaan hoga, woh jald establish kar dene ke baad, the writing struggles to find relevance for this sub-plot. The stakes are never raised high enough, an all-is-lost moment never reached. Kathmandu sub-plot mein bhi, ek prisoner ke gair kanooni torture ke alaava, pertinence yehi hai ki plane mein terrorists kea lava RDX bhi tha, but that tension never quite builds up.
Build up hota hai toh yeh main aakrosh ki kyun ek hafte ka samay lagaa negotiations ko anjaam dene mein. Jab iss grim trajectory mein plot hota hai settle, the narrative gets more focused and to my opening sentence, yeh clear hone lagta hai ki iss kahani ko 2024 mein kyun dohra rahe hain.
Jitni intensity aur urgency plane mein baither hostages aur cabin crew ko mehsoos hoti hai, uske tragically opposite pace mein bureaucracy permission deti hai sarkaari officers ko koi bhi decision lene ki. Ek general hain joh betaab hain action lene ke liye, par bina permission ke hil nahi sakte aur permission hi hai aane ka naam nahi le rahi. Interesting, this sense of urgency, by the end of the series is entirely revrsed, as ths hostages and terrorists spend time together, ek maut ka darr dheere dheer gaayab hota hai, antakshri khelte log, khaana khaate aapas mein flight mein nazar aate hain, jab on ground Kandahar finally team pohonchti hai aur kuch khalbali decision making me nazar aati hai.
Show ki mansha nahi hai ki dikhaaayein desh ek kitna mahaan hai aur doosra kitna corrupt. Ungliyaan uthaaye ki yeh 5 log bas kharab they aur terrorism ka darromdar inhi par rakh diya jaaye. There are many things that make monsters out of men, and to hold a country, a religion or only one agenda responsible for it, will not get us any closer to the root cause. Plane ke andar bhi, business class passengers, ek gora passenger khud ko baaki hostages se oopar, zyada important samajh kar preferential tretement ki ummeed rakhte hain, kya yeh class divide responsible nahi hai logon mein bhare gusse ke liye? Shared adversity ke beech bhi societal divides intact agar rahein, toh duniya kal se behtar honi shuru bhi kaise hogi.
Captain Devi Sharan, played by Vijay Varma comes across as the protagonist joh cut through karta hain inn divides ko. Plane udaane bhi seekha, lekin khud ko toilet ke flush ke mechanism theek karna bhi sikhaya. Poor series mein yehi ek character self-control mein nazar aate hain, jin par bharosa kiya jaaye, someone who is not prone to giving into histrionics, emotion, thinking with a clear head at all times despite the gun on his neck. By painting him in this overtly positive light, as the literal driver, the sarathi, series keh rahi hai ki crisis se communities ko baahar nikaalne ke liye neta ya leader aisa ban-na hoga joh na kisi kaam ko neecha samjhe, aur naa dushman ki capabilities ko kam. Joh apne parivaar ka bhi soche, aur diplomacy ka bhi. Aur joh dushman ko pehchaan kar gusse mein eliminate karne ki jagah usko insaan ki tarah dekhe, jiske andar marm ho. And that being “soft” in the face of a calamity might be the prudent thing to do, it doesn’t make you any less of a man or a protector.
Show mein ek sense yeh hai ki here’s a sense that the creators are more focused on the overall plot, and the “types” than on the individuals living through this nightmare, both inside the plane and outside. Arvind Swamy ko Talibani external affairs minister ke saath baatein karne zaroor bhejte hain, par khud ki team ke andar unhe shayad as an outside south Indian ke taur par dekhte hain, subconsciously. When doesn’t understand Kumud Mishra and Manoj Pahwa’s north Indian slang in conversation and asks what their jokes mean, it’s only slightly amusing to them.
Anubhav Sinha aur co-creator Trishant Srivastava carefully koshish karte hain over 6 episodes yeh dikhaana ki hijackers yeh monolithic nahi they. Aise mein, the writing tries its mightiest best also to not preach you about “good muslim” vs “bad muslim”, kya Islamic hai aur kya nahin, aware of the ramifications of making any statements today through their art. Jin Talibaniyon ne Indian government ke saath co-operate kiya, were they good? But the Taliban is inherently an evil organisation. The terrorist were human people who didn’t want any passengers to starve, but they did kill a man inside that flight. Perhaps to not come across as too decisive in their judgement of anyone on screen, throughout the 6 episode real life footage baar baar aati hai, reminding you ki yeh sab asal hai, manghadant kuch nahi. Aam taur par is choice ki fan nahi hoon main kyunki news clip dekhne lagein toh fictional duniya, actors, framing, story, iski mithya instantly toot jaati hai. Par yahaan, the edit cuts back to real footage SO much, I think we ougt to qualify the series as a docu-drama. And if you begin to look at it as a “natakiyan roopantaran”, it sticks the landing quite well. Ek reminder ki even in the midst of horror, humanity can surface in the most unexpected ways, and that reality infact is stranger than fiction.
In one such cut away to grainy footage from 1999, you see an angry man yell to a TV news camera, “when the middle class revolts, there is a French Revolution.” It might just be the most powerful moment of the series. Indian middle class ki outrage at the government’s handling of any crisis cannot and must not be taken lightly, chaahe sarkar Atal Bihari ki ho ya Joe Biden ki. Sarakaari response bureaucratic inertia aur apathy ke chalte jitna delay hota jaayega, utna gussa, aakrosh badhta rahega aur jawaab maangne log sadko par utarenge bhi.
Khair, itna sab kuch mujhey toh mila yeh show dekh kar. I carried its subtle anger, notes of hope mixed with despondence, heroism intertwined with loss and ofcourse the overall satisfaction of watching a taut thriller as well. Dekhein show aur bataayein what worked for you, the series is now live on Netflix.
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack is……3 ya 4 lines of dialogue aati hain Sushant Singh aur Yashpal Sharma ke haath disappointingly. Watching Manoj Pahwa negotiate with the terrorists like your garden variety uncle though was morbidly fascinating. Dekho, phir batana.
