Anubhav Sinha To NDTV On Filming IC 814 - The Kandahar Hijack: "Most Blissful Days Of My Entire Career"

Anubhav Sinha is enjoying the success of his OTT debut project IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. This Netflix project features a star-studded cast, including Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Arvind Swamy, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Aditya Srivastava, Patralekhaa and others. In an exclusive chat with NDTV's Abira Dhar, the director was asked how he managed to bring all these actors together for the project. To this, Anubhav replied, “Actually if you ask me, dobara mai karna chahun to mai kar paunga? [Will I be able to do it again if I want to?] I will not be certain. Sometimes some things happen serendipitously. I wanted them. I went to them. They were very kind to participate and baaki logistics bhi, vo sab bhi workout ho gya. [Everything else, including the logistics, also worked out.]”

The director also shared how it was surreal to see all the actors working together. Anubhav Sinha said, “Jab most specifically in that location where they all were together. Jab maine in sob ko saath me dekha to aisa yakeen nahi aa raha tha ki yeh ho raha hai aur saat din ki shooting thi us set pe. Aur log na sirf shooting dekhne aate the bade-bade actors, directors aur cameramen, ki chal kya raha hai yaha pe? [When I saw all of them together, it was hard to believe that this was actually happening. The shooting on that set lasted for seven days. And people, not just big actors but also directors and cameramen, would come to see what was going on there.]”

The filmmaker also shared how Taapsee Pannu once visited the sets of IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack . Anubhav Sinha said, “Ek din kone me Taapsee Pannu baithi hui thi. Chupke camera ke peeche baithi hui thi to maine kaha. ‘Tu kya kar rahi hai?'. Boli ki, ‘Mai dekhne aai hu.' [One day, Taapsee Pannu was sitting in a corner. She was quietly sitting behind the camera, so I asked her, 'What are you doing?' She replied, 'I have come to watch.']”

Speaking about how filming IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack was the best experience of his career, Anubhav Sinha expressed, “Those seven days are the most blissful shooting days of my 30 years of directing. When I look back, dude you have got Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur standing there and you are directing them.” 

The director also recalled how he asked actor Amit Sial for one more take for the first time in his career, which made him extremely hesitant. He shared that he felt the same way again when he requested another take from Naseeruddin Shah. “I am so grateful to them all. Each and every actor of IC 814,” Anubhav Sinha added.

When asked about how shooting a web series differs from making a film, Anubhav Sinha explained, “The only difference is writing because then you know you have to let go of the audience after this much time and then you have to bring them back. That is the only new game that you have to play, Otherwise shooting it, editing it and everything else is the same as films. And there is a different artform like in television is a different art form.” The director elaborated that in films, the goal is to attract the audience to the theatres once. In contrast, web shows require maintaining engagement across every episode, which he described as a “dangerous game.”

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack was released on Netflix on August 29. The show is based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft by militants.