'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' review: Gripping hijack drama powered by great cast

Many of us spent the last week of 1999 lazily imagining catastrophic Y2K scenarios. But 180 people experienced a harrowing, life-altering calamity for those seven days in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC 814 went through immense suffering under the watchful eye of five terrorists in a stinking metal box with overflowing toilets, a fellow passenger bleeding to death, and their own lives hanging by a thread. This is their story, told faithfully, unflinchingly, in a tightly scripted mini-series that steers clear of melodrama and maintains the kind of restraint Hindi OTT productions are not known for.

Skilfully directed by Anubhav Sinha (of 'Article 15' fame), the story, adapted from a book penned by the Captain of the ill-fated plane, moves from Kathmandu where the hijack plot was supposedly hatched to Delhi where IB and RAW officers are at each other's throats and Kandahar where the plane eventually lands. All the strands intertwine smoothly, making this a layered look at how, in a crisis, everyone bungles — even those with good intentions.

What an enviable cast this is! There's Vijay Varma as Captain Devi Sharan who delivers a knock-out performance full of emotional intensity, yet utterly subtle. Patralekhaa plays one of the air hostesses with aplomb. And there are the government officials — from Naseeruddin Shah to Pankaj Kapur to the ever-dependable Kumud Mishra and, in a cute comeback, Arvind Swamy. Catch his coffee-chai chat with the talented Manoj Pahwa playing Additional Director, IB.

Two quibbles though. There is a forgivable drop in pace around episode four. More irksome is the questionable portrayal of a newspaper office that seems to be functioning with just a lone star reporter and an inexplicably wan editor-in-chief (Dia Mirza). No reporter, however great, barges into the editor's cabin every now and then to wave the front page in her face. Nope.