IC814 The Kandahar Hijack shows the efforts of Indian bureaucrats which is very effectively shown by the wonderful star-cast of this series. Although this series is based on Dev Sharan's book Flight into Fear published in 2000, but still Anubhav Sinha's research has to be praised. This series covers all the aspects behind the Kandahar hijack.
Storyline
The plot of the series is the same which is already known to the whole world, but Anubhav Sinha is completely successful in showing the story behind it. The wonderful star-cast of this series adds more life to it (Manoj Pahwa, Vijay Verma, Naseerudin Shah, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy and many other brilliant actors) makes it a power packed series. The story begins in Kathmandu where this flight is hijacked, where the Indian spy agency suspects that someone is involved. But despite all efforts, they are unsuccessful in stopping it, and on 24 December 1999 the flight is hijacked.
After the flight is hijacked, all the responsibility falls on captain Sharan Dev (Vijay Verma), who has to listen to the hijackers and also keep the passengers travelling in the flight safe. Where does the flight go before reaching Kandahar and why, you will only know after watching the sequence. And what steps do Indian officers take for the safety of the passengers, along with what effect the politics that happens at that time has on all this, has also been shown in great detail.
The negotiation part of this series feels quite interesting and thrilling wherein the Home Ministry tries its best to stop this hijack by coordinating from all the different countries but the Kargil war of that time and India’s nuclear testing (Pokhran-II) done a few years before have a huge impact on all these efforts.
Conclusion
This series of 6 episodes fully justifies its length, the first 2 episodes may seem light to you in which you feel lack of pace and excitement but from the third episode onwards, there are new twists one after the other. Because Anubhav Sinha has kept such a wonderful star-cast, it does not disappoint you at all in terms of acting. All the great actors have made even that small part of theirs quite important with their acting. Rajiv Thakur, who plays the role of the chief, may disappoint you somewhere in the beginning, but by the end of the series he manages his role. Rajiv really surprises with this role, but his way of speaking is a negative point for him, which is also visible in his dialogues. Anubhav might have made the characters of the hijackers more effective as their way of talking and speaking does not sound Kashmiri at all.
In terms of screenplay, this series does not disappoint you at all, the reason behind every incident has been explained very well. The political situation of that time has also been shown very well, because every decision taken at that time depends on politics. You will enjoy watching Manoj Pahwa’s negotiation skills in the climax of the series. But this series also leaves a lot of questions as to who was the mastermind behind this hijacking. Because his links are with ISI, Taliban and Kashmiri separatists. Also, he was also connected with Bin Laden somewhere.
Although many movies have already been made on Kandahar hijacking, but this series is completely successful in making you understand the details behind that incident. All the episodes don’t seem too long dragged out and you get so involved in it that you don’t even realize when the climax will come. If you want to watch a series based on true events then you must enjoy this series.
Rating:- 7.2/10