“He is unpredictable…”: Naseeruddin Shah shares his experience of working with Pankaj Kapur

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 4 (ANI): Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah shared his experience of working with Pankaj Kapur in the series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’.

During the press meet in Mumbai, he appreciated the acting skills of Pankaj Kapur, saying,”It is such a joy to work with him because he’s unpredictable and you know that this is a person who’s thoroughly done his preparation. And I also make it a point too, to be completely prepared. It’s like playing tennis where you envy his game and you also respect it at the same time.”

Kapur also praised his co-actor and said, “Such kind words from somebody you deeply admire. When I’m working with him there’s a sixth sense within me which is always ready to learn, to see what he is up to, what new I can learn from him because that’s the kind of respect and awe I hold him in. He has said such beautiful words for me and I’m going to relish them for the years that are left for me,” Kapur said.

Kapur said he went through the 200-page-long script of the series. “I felt it was a very taut screenplay and a very well-written script, which is why I wanted to be a part of it,” he said.

He shared how it was to work with the director Anubhav Sinha, saying, “I have a kind of soft corner for this gentleman… And when I got to know that these are the actors who are going to be part of it, it was, as Naseer Sahib said, a pleasure to be among all of them,” Kapur added.

Meanwhile, ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ triggered a row on social media over the names of the hijackers in the series. Later, Netflix has updated its disclaimer with the real and code names of the hijackers.

“For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814, the opening disclaimer has been updated to include the real and code names of the hijackers. The code names in the series reflect those used during the actual event. India has a rich culture of story-telling and we are committed to showcasing these stories and their authentic representation,” said Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content, Netflix India.

The updation of the disclaimer comes after the content head Netflix India Monika Shergill met the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Delhi on Tuesday. The meeting was held in view of certain contentious issues on the web series based on the Hijacking of IC-814.

Additionally, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had also been filed in the Delhi High Court by Surjit Singh Yadav, Chief of Hindu Sena, seeking a ban on the Netflix series.

The PIL alleged that the series distorts the actual identities of the terrorists involved in the hijacking. The petition claimed that the miniseries erroneously assigns Hindu names such as “Bhola” and “Shankar”–names associated with Lord Shiva–to the real hijackers Ibrahim Akhtar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Mistry, and Shakir.

BJP leader Amit Malviya had also criticised the series, saying that the filmmaker Anubhav Sinha legitimised the criminal intent of the hijackers.

“The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814,” Malviya said in a post on X.

BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said he was happy that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has taken cognisance of the issue.

“I vividly remember IC-814. I was very aware of that accident and very involved in following that. Every man and woman in India and indeed in South Asia knows that the hijack of IC-814 from Kathmandu was committed by Pakistan’s ISI-backed terrorists. Now, nobody thinks that there were some people from India who did the hijacking. So how the people have Hindu names in that movie, I don’t know. But I’m very happy that the I&B Ministry and the GoI have taken cognizance of this,” Chandrasekhar said.

The Hijack drama is created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Shrivastava. It stars actors Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Vijay Varma, Arvind Swamy, Patralekhaa and Dia Mirza.

The six-episode series is based on the events of December 24, 1999, when an Indian Airlines flight IC 814 en route to Delhi from Kathmandu was hijacked after takeoff from the Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal shortly after it entered Indian airspace.