IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack – Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack starts with a narration of the Indian Airlines flight being hijacked in Kathmandu, Nepal while on its way to Delhi, India. Since Nepal shares its borders with India, Pakistan and China, it becomes a hub for spy agencies across the 3 countries.

The episode moves to December 24th 1999; hours before the hijack. Ram Chandra Yadav, the first officer in the Indian Embassy of Nepal, gets information about Pakistan’s intelligence agency – ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) planning something. Ram alerts his superiors and asks them to be cautious but his intel is not taken seriously due to lack of evidence.

The embassy sends a fax to India as the flight number IC 814 starts boarding. The captain of the flight – Sharan Dev and the air hostess – Indrani call their respective families to inform them about the expected delay before taking off.

Meanwhile, Ram tries his best to contact Indian Airlines to stop the flight from taking off.

As the passengers board the plane along with the hijackers, a mysterious red bag is placed in the cabin. The cabin crew – Chaaya and Arun – help the passengers safely board the flight. Just as Ram arrives at the airport, the flight takes off. Once the flight has taken off, the leader of the hijackers – Burger takes out pistols from the red bag and announces the hijack.

Another hijacker named Chief asks Sharan to take the plane to Kabul, Afghanistan. The co-pilot, Sunil, argues that the plane does not have enough fuel for that trip while the other hijackers attack the passengers and threaten to kill them. Burger intervenes and asks the flight to be landed at the alternate landing location while Sharan tries to alert the ATC (Air Traffic Control) using the Squawking 7500 code.

Burger and Chief inform the ATC that the plane has been hijacked and will be taken to Kabul. The ATC tries to alert the government about the hijack. A journalist named Nandini gets intel about the hijack from an acquaintance and she tells her Editor – Shalini. Shalini calls Ranjan Mishra – the Joint Secretary of RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) – The Indian External Agency.

Ranjan is shocked to hear the news and informs RAW Head – V K Agarwal about the same. He asks Ranjan to inform India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB). The Directors of IB, Mukul and J P Kohli also learn about the hijack and try to pinpoint who might be behind this. V K Agarwal learns that Ram had tried to alert them about the attack hours before and is disappointed.

Meanwhile, the hijackers threaten to kill Sharan and ask him to follow their orders. Burger also attacks Chaaya and threatens to kill the cabin crew, asking them to comply with him the terrorists. The minister of External Affairs – Vijaybhan Singh asks his secretary and senior officers – D R Sivaramakrishnan and Abhijeet Kumar to talk to their informants in Kabul to find intel on this situation.

On the plane, Sharan argues with the hijackers and pleads with the passengers, asking them to follow the orders of the terrorists to ensure their safety. Sivaramakrishnan tells Vijaybhan that the hijackers were probably related to a terrorist named Masood who was incarcerated in Kashmir, India.

The narrator reveals how Masood was arrested after he had illegally entered India. Mukul asked Masood to be shifted to a high-security cell as he was an asset in this hijacking situation.

As that happens, the pilots try to convince the hijackers to allow them to land in Delhi as the plane is running low on fuel. The episode ends as Burger tells his superior that they will have to land the plane in India to refuel before moving to Kabul.

The Episode Review

Wow, this show has a stellar star cast and I am certain Netflix has spent some big bucks to adapt the true and historic incident. Knowing how the real hijacking has lasted for more than 7 days, we know that this episode is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many characters in this show that it is already getting very interesting.

It is exciting to see how the cabin crew, the passengers, the people from RAW as well as the officials are all working together to stop the hijackers in what will eventually turn into the longest week of all their lives. The show has already introduced many important characters played by popular actors like Pankaj Kapoor, Vijay Varma, Dia Mirza and many more coming together in the first episode itself.

It was a shocker to see Rajiv Thakur, a real-life comedian playing the role of Chief, a hijacker in the show. We know he is here to take his brother – Masood, back home but how many lives will be lost in the process, we will only find out in the episodes to come.