Netflix on Tuesday updated its disclaimer for the series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack after its content head had a meeting with Union information and broadcasting secretary Shyam Jaju here.

Monika Shergill, the content head of the streaming platform in India, said in a statement after the meeting: “For the benefit of audiences unfamiliar with the 1999 hijacking of 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.”

Shergill was summoned to the ministry after BJP information and technology head Amit Malviya objected to the real codenames of the hijackers being used. He had posted on X on Sunday that director Anubhav Sinha had “legitimised their criminal intent by furthering their non-Muslim names”.

The ministry, however, has not spoken publicly about the controversy.

Shergill’s statement was read out at a media conference in Mumbai organised to promote the series. Questioned at the press meet, director Sinha said: “Did you watch
the series? Watch it first. I can’t talk to you because you haven’t watched it.”

Netflix faced a wave of online trolling for the fictionalised series that has been widely appreciated by critics. The BJP-led government in 1999 had released terrorists in exchange for flyers of the hijacked IC814 flight who were held hostage at Kandahar airport.

While the show leaves no doubts about the Muslim identities of the hijackers, they are referred to by call signs that they used to introduce themselves to the flyers.