IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack

"IC 814:  The Kandahar Hijack" (2024) is a film series depicting a real hijack in 1999 just over the Christmas week.  The film makers did their best to maintain historical accuracy.  Several components took part, the hijackers, the airplane staff and passengers, military personnel, politicians and journalists.  The story starts in Nepal and travels to India, Pakistan, Dubai and Afghanistan.  Negotiations are very difficult, partly because they had no real experience and little leverage.

 There are threats and violence.  The pilot and his assistants are confronted with guns and the threat of a bomb.  The captain is only able to convince them they do not have enough fuel to get to Kandahar and directs to refueling efforts.  Indian authorities plan a counter attack, but the timing is messed up.  

Intelligence is first blamed for not picking up some obvious information.  Before too long the politicians at various levels are discussing and trying to minimize blame.  There is no easy solution.   The ordeal stretches over 7 days.  The passengers are constantly stressed.  The toilet cannot handle the increased load which might seem trivial, but the passengers didn't think so.

There is no secret.  In the end three terrorists were released and went on to enact other acts of violence.  The Taliban consolidated their power.  A change in government.  Security arrangements have been enacted that affect millions of airline passengers every day.

The impact of this film comes from the cast and crew.

Anubhav Sinha created the idea, directed, wrote most of the script and was a co-producer.  He has 15 credits for directing, 13 for writing and 12 for producing including "Tum Bin...Love will Find  Way" (2001), "Article 15" (2019), "Thappad" (2020) and  "Anek" (2022).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/article-15.html. 

Richard Harvey wrote much of the music.  In 1972, when only 18 graduated from the Royal College of Music.  He is noted for the wide range of musical instruments he can perform on, well over 600.   He has 93 credits for composing, 53 for the music department and 47 for sound track including "The Lion King" (1994), "The Da Vinci Code" (2006), "Interstellar" (2014) and "Little Prince" (2015).

Ewan Mulligan was one of two cinematographers.  He has 49 credits for cinematography and 14 for camera and electrical department including  "Article 15" (2019), "Anek" (2022) and "Kaali Paani" (2023).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/10/kaali-paani.html  

Mukesh Chhabra was in charge of casting.  This film required cast to include many non speaking roles such as terrified passengers, airplane staff and crowds trying to impact politicians.  After studying acting he spent over six years teaching and acting.  He is noted for bringing such faces as Rajkummar Rao, Sushant Singh Rajpt, Mrunal Thakur, Prateik Gandhi, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh to the screen.  He has 227 credits for casting (+ 29 for the casting department and 29 for acting) including "Amal" (2007), "Kai Che Po" (20130, "Wrong Side Raju" (2016), "Mom" (2017), "Sacred Games" (2018-19), "Sanju" (2018), "Notebook" (2019), "The Family Man" (2019), "Dil Bechara" (2020), "Laal Singh Chaddha" (2022), "Jaane Jaan" (2023), "Dunki" (2023) and "Amar Singh Chamkila" (2024).  For a film where Mukesh had a lasting impression check  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/05/kai-che-po.html

Naseeruddin Shah played a political role.  He has 257 acting credits and 6 for the music department including.  He once formed a traveling theatre group and has done a Hollywood movie.  His films include "Hey Ram" (2000), "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), "Maqbool" (2004), "Omkara" (2006),  "Amal" (2007) and "Gehraiyaan" (2022).

 Pankag Kupur  played another politician.  He has 74 acting credits and 3 for directing including "Gandhi" (1982), "Roja" (1992) and "Jersey" (2022).  In the English international version of "Gandhi" Pankag played Gandhi;s secretary, but inthe Hindi version he dubbed for Ben Kingsley.

Arvind Swamy played another politician (there was a lot of conflict and hesitation).  After an education in India he went to Wake Forest University in North Carolina for a Master degree in internatonal business which he was active in overlapping with his film career.   He had a serious injury and took years off from acting, coming back in 2013.  He has been a playback singer and a dubber (in Tamil).   Arvind has 34 acting credits including "Roja" (1992), "Bombay" (1995) and "Kadal" (2013).  That last one has a song by A.R. Rahman that is number one in my collection.

Vijay Verma played the pilot.  He has 32 acting credits including "Gully Boy" (2019), "She" (2020) and "Jaane Jaan" (2023).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/10/jaane-jaan-from-devotion-of-suspect-x.html

Dia Mirza played Shalini, an editor  in conflict with an ambitious journalist.  Her father was German and her mother Bengali.  A model and a beauty queen winner.  She has 60 film credits including "Parineeta" (2005), "Hum Tum aur Ghost" (2010), "Sanju" (2018), "Move to Heaven" (2019) and "Thappad" (2020).  See and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/05/thappad-or-in-english-slap.html

Anupam Tripathi played a RAW agent in Kathmandu.  Born in India and took part in some theatre plays, but then went to Korea to study acting.  In two years he became fluent in Korean.  He has 17 acting credits including "Squid Game" (2021) and "King the Land" (2023).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/10/squid-game.html

It will give you a feel for how hijackings work and the behind the scenes activities.  None are the same, but unless you have been involved directly we cannot really appreciate the dynamics.  Available on Netflix with subtitles. 

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally I found them worthy of my time.  If you follow the links you should be able to determine if a particular film is worth following up.

Squid Game

Korea makes a lot of money exporting cars, computers, and all kinds of electronics.  All of these items are concrete.  They also export culture which in essence is ideas.  K-Pop has made inroads on our airwaves and last year a Korean movie actually won the Best Picture Oscar.  Now with the blessing of Netflix, the Koreans are invading television series in a very big way.  

"Squid Game" has had a greater impact on Netflix than any other tv. series.  Many of you have noticed, but more is to come.

What is the attraction?  Unexpected violence leading to death plays a role, but what stands out is that there seems to be no justification for the violence.  The killings are just called "eliminated" for playing a game.  

The cruelty is stunning.  It is difficult to determine a motive for setting up such cruelty, but an expressed sentiment is sort of an explanation.  If you have too much money, life is boring, if you have no money life is no fun.  Harken back to Roman times when gladiators fought to the death which was sometimes averted if the crowd signaled that preference.  It was not just the idle rich that passed judgment, but often included the hoi polloi.  It was all for entertainment and it must be admitted that cruelty draws attention.

The dynamics when lives are at stake can be tense.  There are six games and the participants can only guess what they are.  There are twists galore.  There are cheaters among both the participants and the staff administering the games.  The police have tried to infiltrate.  Each participant is desperate for different reasons.  Most of them are heavily in debt with no prospect for getting out. 

"Parasite" (2019) was a bit deceptive, but in reality it depicted class differences and that modern Korea had a degree of inequality--like the rest of the world.  It seems inevitable that inequality will be with us forever, but historically there have been resets--due to such things as pestilence and violence.  Check out:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/01/the-great-leveler-violence-and.html

"Squid Game" highlights inequality and while it is highly entertaining, it should also be thought provoking.  Do we want some segments of our population desperate while another segment exploits them for personal profit (or their amusement).  The end should make viewers concerned about the direction of our society.

Other films have attempted to convey such themes entertainingly with various degrees of success.  Here are a few contributors to the success of "Squid Game."

Director, writer and producer Hwang Dong-hyuk   Directed and wrote "Silenced" (2011) and "Miss Granny" (2014), both highly regarded by me.   Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/comparing-two-grannies.html

Jaeil Jung, composed the music and earlier had done "Okja" (2017) and "Parasite" (2019).

Lee Jung-jae, the leading protagonist is a fashion model.  His face seemed vaguely familiar and it turns out many of his films are on my list.  "The Housemaid" (2010),  "The Thieves" (2012),  "Assassination" (2015),  and "Along with the Gods: The Two worlds" (2017).

Oh Yeong-su played an old man on the verge of dementia who turned out to be more useful than first thought.  Despite his age there are only a few screen credits, one of which I have seen.  "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring" (2003).

Anupam Tripathi played a Pakistani immigrant, another desperate participant.  Born in India he picked up an interest in theater while there, but ended up moving to Korea where he was able to not only learn the language, but able to gain small roles.  His role in "Squid Game" was his first feature and ironically there is supposed to be Urdu dialogue, but Anupam is listed as speaking English, Korean and Hindi. 

Jung Hoyeon played a North Korean defector and created quite a stir from her role that launched her to a huge Instagram following.  Prior to this role she was well established as a fashion model and had only been in video shorts.  Surprised to learn she has been known for her red hair.  Don't be surprised when she makes a bigger splash, not just in Korea, but in the English speaking world.

If this got you hooked on Korean films you could check out some of the following:

Parasite won 3 Oscars:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/09/parasite-breaks-oscar-tradition.html

"Crash landing on You" (2019)  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/02/crash-landing-on-you-very-addicting.html

Right now I am enjoying "Designated Survivor:  60 Days" (2019) and feeling it provides the same tension as the American original.