Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 2: The actor-politician Kangana Ranaut’s film “Emergency” based on the life and works of the former prime minister Indira Gandhi, has again been stuck with the Central Board of Film Certification CBFC) on the grounds of hurting religious sentiments of the Sikh community.
On similar grounds, the government is also contemplating to direct the Netflix to take down its webseries “IC814” portraying the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
“Religious sentiments can’t be hurt,” sources in government said on Monday explaining why the release date of Kangana Ranaut-starrer ‘Emergency’ was postponed. “Few religious organisations have raised concerns about this. Religious sentiments cannot be hurt. There is some sensitive content in the movie,” the sources said. “The government is taking it (the concerns) seriously,” they added.
Ms Ranaut, the BJP Member of Parliament from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, who plays the lead role and is also the writer, director and co-producer of “Emergency” is hugely disappointed with the CBFC’s stand. The film was initially slated for release on September 6. However, its release date, postponed multiple times earlier, has been deferred again as the movie is yet to get a certificate from the CBFC.
Several Sikh bodies have demanded a ban on the release of the movie, claiming it misrepresents the community. Top gurdwara body Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has sent a legal notice to the producers of ‘Emergency,’ citing misrepresentation of the history of Sikhs and demanded the removal of the objectionable scenes that will hurt Sikh sentiments. Ms Ranaut termed the new development “hugely demotivating and unjust.”
Drawing parallels between her movie and Netflix series ‘IC814: The Kandahar Hijack’, she said censorship was only for those who make films based on “historic facts.” Incidentally, IC814 has received strong criticism from the BJP particularly for using Hindu names for couple of the hijackers.
“Law of the land is that one can show unimaginable amount of violence and nudity on OTT platforms without any consequence or censorship, one can even distort real-life events to suit their politically motivated sinister motives, there is all the freedom for communists or leftists across the world for such anti-national expressions,” Ms Ranaut said.
The government had summoned Netflix India’s content chief Monika Shergill over the row on Anubhav Sinha’s IC814 on the 1999 hijacking and the sources said, “The government is taking it very seriously.” Ms Ranaut, responding to a post by BJP leader Amit Malviya on IC814, wrote on X, “As a nationalist no OTT platform allows us to make films that revolve around the integrity and unity of Bharat, it seems censorship is only for some of us who don’t want tukde of this nation and make films on historic facts. It’s hugely demotivating and unjust.”
Last week, in a video message, the 38-year-old said her film was still stuck with the censor board. She had also said she was under pressure not to show the assassination of the former prime minister by her security guards. “This is an unbelievable time for me and I am very sorry for this state of things in this country,” she rued.
The CBFC has also received a legal notice from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) seeking to prevent the release of Ms Ranaut’s film, claiming it may “incite communal tensions” and “spread misinformation.” The release of the period political drama was previously scheduled to be released on November 24, 2023.
Her criticism of the CBFC, which is answerable to the Central government, comes close on the heels of the BJP censoring her for her unsolicited remarks against the farmers’ agitation. “Kangana Ranaut is not authorised to speak on policy matters on behalf of the party and has not been given permission to do so. The BJP has directed Ms Ranaut to refrain from making such statements in the future,” the party had said.
The BJP’s disapproval came after she said the farmers’ protest could have led to a Bangladesh-like crisis in India but for the strong steps taken by the government then. She later also met the BJP president JP Nadda and was reportedly reprimanded for making frequent comments against the farmers, a sensitive issue for the party.
On the Netflix webseries, hundreds of social media users have accused creators of the web series of deliberately changing names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar.” The series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is inspired by the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ Devi Sharan, captain of the flight, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Kapur in key roles.
The web series captured the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, with 191 fliers on-board, took off from Nepal’s Kathmandu and was headed for Delhi. Soon after take-off, five hijackers, who were posing as passengers, took control of the plane. It later made several landings, at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three dreaded terrorists — Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar — from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages. According to reports, Taliban authorities helped the hijackers and the released terrorists reach Pakistan.
A Union Home Ministry statement dated January 6, 2000, said the names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir. “To the passengers of the hijacked plane, these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another,” the Home Ministry statement says.
Multiple journalists who covered the week-long hijacking back in 1999 have put out social media posts amid the controversy, saying that passengers had told them that the hijackers used these names to address each other. Soon after Netflix started screening the webseries, a section of social media users criticised the creators for using “Bhola” and “Shankar” for terrorists’ names.
Among those who slammed the creators of the show was BJP leader Amit Malviya. “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,” he said in a post on X. “Left’s agenda to whitewash the crimes of Pakistani terrorists, all Muslims, served. This is the power of cinema, which the Communists have been using aggressively, since the 70s. Perhaps even earlier,” he added.