‘Captain Sharan Praised Me’

‘He
told
me
he
was
very
happy
to
see
the
realistic
portrayal
of
the
cockpit
too.’
‘His
wife
told
me
that
I
carried
the
same
kind
of
personality
as
her
husband
in
my
performance.’

In
our
cinema,
the
louder
and
more
aggressive
performances
get
noticed
more.
But
Vijay
Verma
chose
to
remain
restrained
in
the
Web
series,



IC
814:
The
Kandahar
Attack.

“When
the
camera
is
this
close
to
you
at
all
times,
doing
anything
extra
can
be
magnified
and
would
kill
the
moment
for
the
viewers.
I
wanted
to
stay
true
to
my
thoughts
and
feelings
without
the
need
to
‘perform’.
I
just
had
to
be
there,
doing
my
job
as
a
pilot,”
he
tells

Subhash
K
Jha.

Vijay
plays


Captain
Devi
Sharan,
the
commander
of
the
Indian
Airlines
Flight
IC-814
which
was
hijacked
by
five
Pakistani
terrorists
on
Christmas
eve
1999.

“When
I
met
Captain
Sharan,
I
saw
a
very
dignified,
soft-spoken
individual.
It
was
my
responsibility
to
portray
him
in
his
light.
And
yes,
flamboyance
and
aggression
has
its
own
charm
and
takers.
I’ve
played
some
of
those.
But
it’s
often
the
unspoken
and
unexpressed
part
of
characters
that
strikes
the
chord
with
other
people,”
he
says.

“I
did
everything
that
was
written
in
the
script.
There
were
no
improvisations

per
se.
I
didn’t
do
much
research
but
I
observed
and
practised
the
work
of
a
pilot
extensively.
I
didn’t
want
to
look
like
a
noob.”

Vijay
was
bowled
over
by
his
co-stars,
like
Pankaj
Kapur,
Naseeruddin
Shah,
Arvind
Swamy
and
Dia
Mirza.

“Just
to
be
part
of
such
an
illustrious
cast
was
an
honour
and
I
will
cherish
it
all
my
life.
The
real
life
Captain
Sharan
praised
me
for
the
work.
He
told
me
he
was
very
happy
to
see
the
realistic
portrayal
of
the
cockpit
too.
His
wife
told
me
that
I
carried
the
same
kind
of
personality
as
her
husband
in
my
performance.
It
required
a
lot
of
participation
from
me.

“I
got
some
time
prepping
for
it
at
the
flight
simulation
centre
and
through
that,
I
realised
the
technical
nature
of
the
job
and
the
extensive
focus
it
requires.
I
used
that
training
as
a
base
to
carry
out
the
entire
series’
performance.
The
green
screen
at
shoot
didn’t
help
either
but
I
could
use
my
imagination
to
create
the
tension.”

***

Needless
controversy
over
OTT
series??,
says
Kandahar
plane
hijack
survivor

Meanwhile,
a
survivor
of
the
nightmare
of
the
1999
hijack
named
Pooja
Kataria
has
her
say
on
the


row
over
the
depiction
of
code
names
of
hijackers
in
the
series
and
calls
it
‘needless’.

Kataria
was
then
returning
from
her
honeymoon
in
Kathmandu,
and
said,
“I
have
seen
it.
The
controversy
which
is
going
on
is
needless.
There
is
nothing
like
this,
the
true
event
has
been
depicted
and
they
(hijackers)
had
code
names
and
used
to
call
each
other
using
those
names.”

She
recalled
how
a
hijacker
with
code
name
‘Burger’
talked
to
the
passengers,
played

Antakshari
and
gifted
her
a
shawl
when
he
came
to
know
it
was
her
birthday.

“He
was
friendly
with
the
people
as
they
were
having
panic
attacks.
He
even
played Antakshari,”
she
said.

The
Web
series
has
courted
controversy
with
many
claiming
that
Director
Anubhav
Sinha
changed
the
names
of
the
hijackers
to
‘Shankar’
and
‘Bhola’
to
allegedly
protect
the
terrorists
who
belonged
to
a
certain
community.

The
real
names
of
the
hijackers
were
Ibrahim
Athar,
Shahid
Akhtar
Sayed,
Sunny,
Ahmad
Qazi,
Zahoor
Mistry
and
Shakir.
However,
the
series
referred
to
the
code
names
used
by
the
terrorists
—
Bhola,
Shankar,
Doctor,
Burger
and
Chief.

Kataria,
47,
while
recalling
the
harrowing
events
which
unfolded
after
the


plane
was
hijacked
on
December
24,
1999,
40
minutes
after
it
took
off
from
Kathmandu,
said
the
hijackers
addressed
each
other
using
their
code
names.

“I
think
it
should
be
seen
from
the
entertainment
point
of
view
only.
Other
movies
are
also
made.
There
is
no
need
for
controversy,”
she
said.

Recalling
the
events
on
that
fateful
day,
Kataria
said,
“There
was
fear
and
we
thought
we
all
will
die.
We
did
not
know
what
was
happening
outside.
We
were
asked
to
keep
our
heads
down
for
two
days,
we
lived
in
that
state
of
terror
for
eight
days.
Only
when
we
came
out
did
we
realise
what
had
happened.”

Kataria
recalled
it
was
her
birthday
then.

“It
was
my
birthday
and
I
told
him
(the
hijacker)
that
he
should
leave
us.
He
said
we
will
celebrate
my
birthday
here.
Burger
gifted
a
shawl
to
me…,”
she
said,
showing
the
shawl
she
has
preserved.
‘To
my
dearest
sister
and
her
handsome
husband’
is
written
over
it
and
signed
by
Burger.

“I
have
preserved
the
boarding
passes
also,”
Kataria
said.

With
inputs
from
PTI.