Anubhav Sinha is ready dip his toes in the OTT waters with IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. Based on the 1999 hijack of an Indian aircraft by five Pakistani militants, it will premiere on Netflix India on August 29. The teaser of the thriller series has just dropped and features a stellar cast of Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur along with Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, and Squid Game star Anupam Tripathi.
The teaser starts with a group of Indian passengers preparing for a takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal's Kathmandu for a flight back home to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. The pilot, played by Vijay Varma, asks passengers to sit back and relax, as five masked men hold him at gunpoint, assault the air hostess, and hijack the flight leaving everyone terrified.
The teaser then takes us through how the fate of an entire nation is at stake as this is not just any hijack. Indian government officials at various positions - played by Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Manoj Pahwa, and Naseeruddin Shah - jump into action in New Delhi. A larger threat looms for the passengers as they are being flown to Kandahar in then Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Known for his work in dramas like Mulk, Thappad, Article 17, and Bheed, Anubhav Sinha readies for his streaming debut. He will reunite with Dia Mirza, and Pankaj Kapur for hit OTT debut. 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' is co-produced by his house Benaras Media Works.
Five masked Pakistani militants, members of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) hijacked an Indian aircraft IC 814 flying from Nepal to New Delhi in 1999. They ordered the flight to be diverted to multiple locations, and eventually to Kandahar under the control of Taliban back then. The hijack changed the course of terrorism in India entirely.
Notably, Vishal Bharadwaj's plans of a series on the Kandahar hijack earlier were shelved earlier following a controversy around Prime Video India's 2021 Original, Tandav.