Rating – **** (4/5)
A hijack story that justified the phrase – ‘truth is arranged than fiction’. I mean when was the last time you heard about hijackers playing antakshari with the passengers of a flight they have hijacked? It sounds preposterous but holds absolute truth. Netflix’s latest series, IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack is a saga that delves into that story which we were aware of from its surface but never from its roots and what transpired in the geo-political scenario leading to an incident that has you questioning everything. Without much build-up and rightfully so, we are into the urgency and action mode with scattered incidents barely holding onto one thread – and that is the base story. Director and creator Anubhav Sinha understands the task at hand and can carve out a meticulously structured narrative that does enough to keep you hooked and intrigued.
The extreme situations puts everyone in misery and pandemonium kicks in thus leading to the biggest of names in the show and in real life bringing their think tanks to the table. I mean imagine frames that include bonafide icons like Arvind Swamy, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Aditya Srivastava, Kanwaljeet Singh, Kumud Mishra, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Manoj Pahwa – together! You would pay to just watch them talk and here you are treated to watch their acting prowess – I would excuse a thousand loopholes.
And there are! Not a thousand though. The entire track that has Anupam Tripathi as Ram, who is the undercover agent in Nepal trying to solve the mystery of the hijack is almost a blur and more so owing to how riveting the other two settings are. Furthermore, the crisp and taut treatment of the screenplay, while stupendous and applaudable takes away from the gravitas of a few moments and makes things seem incomplete at times. Also, Dia Mirza as the news editor of a newspaper is barely there and doesn’t lend much to the otherwise fairly sketched-out characters.
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack has managed to assemble not just legends but even surprise packages like Rajiv Thakur – you watch out for this man who usually makes you laugh and Amrita Puri and Additi Gupta- not a surprise package per se but reminding that you don’t need a huge amount of screentime to make an impact. Then you have Netflix’s very own, Vijay Varma. Always reliable, always doing a great job. He doesn’t play the hero but he is a hero and that’s sprinkled in a few situations.
It seemed like a deliberate call but one that helped the case a lot – which was to input dry humor in the negotiations that involved the Indian authorities and the hijackers on the land of Taliban – Kandahar. The humanity factor is never lost in this show – be it the aspect of hijackers sympathising with the hostages, be it a sense of Stockholm Syndrome kicking in between them, be it the higher-ups trying to distinguish between the politics within the authorities and even the slight doses of punchlines. I mean finally, there’s a presentation that showcases people eating food and drinking tea or coffee even when the situation is extremely dire – because how else would you survive to even go on?
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack delivers on multiple fronts and is thoroughly watchable giving you the new information you had no idea about while also keeping you invested in the humanity and importance of the story.
And in the end, where else would you even be able to see such an illustrious ensemble with the finest Indian acting talents there are! Even if you watch just for that – it should be enough.
