New Delhi: Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot of IC 814 from Kathmandu to Delhi, portrayed by Vijay Varma on screen in the Netflix web series has brought everyone's attention to the real man who flew the hijacked plane to various locations in the 1999 Indian Airlines plane hijack.
IC 814 hijack 1999
The Indian Airlines Flight 814 also known as IC 814 was hijacked by 5 masked men on December 24, 1999. The hijack went on for 8 days. The aircraft's pilot Captain Devi Sharan was 37-years-old at the time, alongwith first officer Rajinder Kumar and flight engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia.
Captain Devi Sharan received a hero's welcome in bringing 188 passengers from Kathmandu to Delhi. The passengers included honeymooners, businessmen and other people on holiday.
About Captain Devi Sharan
Devi Sharan was supposed to go on a vacation with his family after flying on the last Christmas Eve of the millenium but it seems that destiny had other plans for him. During those eight days of hijacking, it is said that Captain Devi Sharan kept his calm because he knew that the lives of so many people were at stake.
The IC 814 has some 188 passengers and crew and is called the longest hijack drama in aviation history. The hijackers, who had links with Al Qaeda, had one single aim of freeing one the most dangerous terrorists, Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar.
'Flight Into Fear', is a book written by Captain Devi Sharan and Srinjoy Chowdhary, which became a major source of inspiration for Anubhav Sinha's Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'. In the book, he shared the entire ordeal of the hijack, his behaviour during the hijack and how he tried to keep a calm atmosphere for all during the hijack.
Vijay Varma,who plays the pilot in the Netflix series had recounted his encounter of first meeting the pilot. He penned a long note on Gram about his first meeting with the piolt and said, "Real and Reel Captain Sharan. When I first met the captain... I was taken in by his pleasant smile and his simplicity... and then I saw a scar on his neck.. I asked him about it... he simple and politely said '“woh hijackers ki gun 7 din tak yahi ragadti rahi toh wound ho gaya tha jo heal nahi hua” I froze. He smiled. I knew I was talking to a real life hero. It was such a huge honour to get to depict Captain Devi Sharan on screen. His efforts to save lives amidst chaos and dread is truly inspiring! A tale of resilience and honour.. of critical thinking and duty.. of patience and hope and most of all.. bravery. We salute you captain 🫡 IC814 streaming on Netflix from 29th august."
In an interview with New York Times, shortly after the hijack, Captain Sharan had shared, "There were two terrorists standing behind me in the cockpit, and whatever I used to communicate to my co-pilot or the crew, they used to understand everything. So, I decided to keep certain things to myself. When the Lahore Air Traffic Control (ATC) refused permission to land the aircraft, I made a plan to pretend to crash land the aircraft so that it would put pressure on them to switch on the runway lights and allow us to land there".
"Believe me, my plan worked, and I immediately got a communication from the ATC that the runway is open, and we safely landed there.” he added.
Captain Devi Sharan was welcomed with open arms by the Indian government, the public and his family who hailed him a hero for his bravery that helped in saving the lives of many passengers in the aircraft during that inopportune week.