Once wedded to Bollywood shindig, Anubhav Sinha, in recent years, has emerged as a gutsy chronicler of events that have threatened the idea of India. Finding his metier with Mulk , Anubhav went on to lend voice to the socio-politically deprived in Article 14 , Anek and Bheed . Still remembered for the action-packed Sea Hawks on Doordarshan, this week, the seasoned director is diving into streaming waters with IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack.
Based on Captain Devi Sharan’s book, the six-episode-long Netflix series puts one of independent India’s biggest intelligence and security failures in perspective. In 1999, Anubhav says, he was in Mumbai, making music videos. “It was a phase of my life when I was busy making money and have no tragic memories of the period.
But my director friends, Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap, and Hansal Mehta say I was politically aware at that time as well. Having grown up in Banaras and studied at Aligarh Muslim University, I had to be. In UP, siyasat (politics) is discussed at tea stalls and I frequented them often in both the cities.
” The six-episode series depicts personalities who are part of the security apparatus even today. Was he conscious? “I am not in the business of saving or glorifying people. Something happened, I did my research as authentically as possible, and here it is,” avers Anubhav.
Excerpts from an interview: The IC 814 hijack is not exactly a success story; how have you approached the subject? When I was approached, Netf.