‘IC 814’ actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya on ‘Bhola, Shankar’ controversy: ‘Why would a terrorist reveal his name?’

Dibyendu Bhattacharya Pic/Instagram

‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya, who essayed the role of Abhijeet Kumar, a senior officer in the MEA speaks exclusively to mid-day.com on the controversy that overshadowed Anubhav Sinha's debut web series on Netflix. He reveals how the makers only went by the book and that the questions raised over the names of terrorists in the show are baseless.

Dibyendu Bhattacharya said yes to ‘IC 814' for its ensemble cast

Dibyendu Bhattacharya says, "I spoke to Anubhav Sinha, and when he offered me this role, I read the script and I saw there is not much in it because it's an ensemble. When I came to know the people involved in it and of course the content. So, I said ‘yes'. I was willing to work with Anubhav Sinha. It was the right time."

Dibyendu Bhattacharya's memory of the 1999 hijack

He recalls, "It was long 7 days. Every day we used to be hooked onto the news channel, ‘What is going to happen'. We were quite disappointed then. Uss time bahut gussa aata tha. When we grew up and read the book Flight Into Fear, and started shooting, we were exposed to a lot of research material. That's when we realised how things work during diplomatic situations."

Dibyendu Bhattacharya on the ‘Bhola, Shankar' controversy

He states, "I know, there was a conversation going on about Bhola-Shankar. But it's in the book and we've followed the book. Even the hostages said in their interviews that they used to call themselves by this name, they played Antakshari too. Who is going to decide what is a fact and what is false? Sawal uthane se sawal nahi banta. Sawal ki buniyad bhi honi chahiye. Bebuniyad sawal karke koi fayda nahi hai."

He adds, "We were just showing a work of art, a true story. I wonder why would a terrorist reveal his true name. That's the basic thing. Thoda bewakoof aadmi bhi hoga toh nahi batayega. A terrorist will always hide his identity. Everyone's answer is there in the series."

About ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'

IC-814 was hijacked by five terrorists on December 24, 1999, 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu. The aircraft carrying about 180 passengers remained hostage for seven days and flew from Kathmandu to Amritsar and then to Lahore. It was re-fuelled in Lahore and left for Dubai. From Dubai, it went to Taliban-controlled Kandahar, where all the passengers were released on December 31, 2000.

Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Arvind Swami, Dia Mirza, Pooja Gor, Patralekhaa, Amrita Puri, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sushant Singh, Aditya Srivastava, Rajeev Thakur and Yashpal Sharma are also a part of the show.