Shikara (2020 film)

Shikara
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Screenplay by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra Rahul Pandita Abhijat Joshi
Story by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Produced by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Starring	Aadil Khan Sadia Khateeb
Cinematography	Rangarajan Ramabadran
Edited by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra Shikhar Misra
Music by	Songs: Sandesh Shandilya Abhay Sopori Rohit Kulkarni Score: A. R. Rahman Qutub-E-Kripa
Production company	Vinod Chopra Films
Distributed by	Fox Star Studios
Release date	7 February 2020 (2020-02-07)[1]
Running time	120 minutes[2]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	est. ₹8.15 crore[3]

Shikara is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film is based on the love story of a Kashmiri Pandit couple at the peak of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1990s and the subsequent exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley.^[4][5][6] The film was released on 7 February 2020.^[1]

Plot[]

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The film is based on the kashmiri pandit exodus of 1990. The story revolved around the love story of Shanti (Sadia Khateeb^[7]) and Shiv Dhar, who are Kashmiri Pandits in the backdrop of the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir.^[1] The book Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita has inspired many parts of the movie.^[8]

The movie starts with an aged Shiv writing a letter to the President of the United States of America (POTUS) explaining to him the situation of Kashmiri Pandits who are living like refugees in their own country. It turns out that he has written several letters since the year 1990. His most recent letter received a response from POTUS and inviting him over to a presidential suite in Delhi. He along with Shanti leaves for Delhi. In their palatial room they see a movie DVD - "love in kashmir". They recall how they had met in Kashmir. With the help of his friend Lateef Lone (an aspiring cricketer) proposes to Shanti and they get married in traditional kashmiri pandit wedding. They soon build a huge mansion with the help of Lateef's father. The entire community including Hindus and Muslims live together in Harmony. Lateef's father, a politician who is out for a rally is fatally injured. It is stated that the police attacked him on the behest of the current central government. (However, no where in the movie any evidence of this situation is presented). Lateef cannot bear the loss of his father and crosses the border to Lahore to get trained as a militant. This incident changes the peaceful valley. Shiv notices a lot of students from his class missing. Shanti is also made to cover her head and remove her bindi by a group of people during a bus ride. It is there she finds out that there are direct buses from Laal chowk to Islamabad and Lahore. She even witnesses a shoot out that kills 6 police officers trying to stop young men from boarding these buses to militancy. Shiv is kidnapped by a few of his missing students and taken to meet Lateef who is now leading a group of militants against the Kashmiri Pandits. He warns Shiv to leave the valley before it is too late and he is only doing so since they were friends in the past. Shiv still believes that the Kashimiri Pandits are safe and all these changes are temporary. However, he had misjudged the situation. A hit-list is released warning all Hindu Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir valley in a month. Soon Kashimiri Pandit houses are burnt down. Shiv and Shanti, along with the rest of their family manage to escape to Jammu. The couple that once resided in a huge mansion is now reduced to living in tents. They see rich and affluent Kashmiri Pandits struggling to get something as simple as tomatoes. It is at this moment Shiv starts using a typewriter gifted to him by his cousin who is killed by militants to write letters to the POTUS (George Bush at that time). It is seen that over the years the refugees have started building a life for themselves. Shiv, who has completed his PHD chooses to continue living in refugee camps to teach refugee children. His wife is very supporting and despite PTSD they seem to settle in. One night, Shiv and Shanti are called upon by the Indian Army to meet with a now captured terrorist Lateef in Kashmir Valley. Shiv talks to Lateef, but Lateef dies soon after. Shiv and Shanti also visit their old home which has now been taken over by their once trusted neighbor. Shiv and Shanti are shocked to see how their neighbor, who they treated like family, has changed everything they had built together. Back in refugee towers, a small event of happiness comes their way. One of their neighbor's daughter is getting married. Shanti is overjoyed hoping to see a Kashimiri Pandit wedding. However, the wedding is nothing like what she imagined. There is a dj, bright lights, loud music etc. The despair of losing not just her home but also her culture is evident on her face and she soon collapses. It turns out that she is suffering from a neurological issue and needs surgery. It is before the surgery that the couple received a call from the POTUS and went to live in the presidential suite. It is then that Shiv reveals to Shanti that it was him who booked the hotel and the postman got confused by the term "presidential suite" assuming that the president had invited them over. It was their 30th wedding anniversary and he wanted to fulfill her long pending dream of seeing the Taj Mahal. Shanti asks him how he managed to pay for the suite which costs around 1.25 lakhs. Shiv tells her that he sold their house for her surgery and used some of the money to fulfill her dream. Shanti is dejected but doesn't say anything. Later Shiv takes her on a boat ride to Taj Mahal (just like their wedding night where he had taken her to Shikara). Shanti passes away in his arms on the boat.

Shiv takes Shanti's ashes to Kashmir like he had promised her and decides to stay in his parent's old house. He starts teaching young boys there hoping that they don't turn into terrorists like his best friend did.

Cast[]

• Aadil Khan as Shiv Kumar Dhar
• Sadia Khateeb as Shanti Dhar
• Zamir Ashai as Khursheed Hassan Lone
• Zain Khan Durrani as Lateef Lone
• Priyanshu Chatterjee as Naveen
• Vinay Raina as Shiv's Father
• Bhavana Chauhan as Arti
• Ashwin Dhar as Mohanlal
• Farid Azad Khan as Rehmana
• Saghar Sehrai as Haji Sahab
• Mushtaq Kak as Masood Sahab
• Anjana Sood as Shiv's mother
• Faiyaz Dilbar as Shanti's father
• Shahid Lateef as Yunus
• Ajay Kaul as Manoharlal Kaul
• Sandeep Verma as Registration Officer
• Rahul Kilam as Raina's Son
• Ravi Braroo as Raina Sahab
• Rahul Pandita (from jagti known as badshah bhai) as Direction director

Production[]

In March 2018, it was reported that a film was shot under the title "Love and Letters" in Kashmir by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. In an interview later, he mentioned that almost entirely film was shot in Kashmir. Initially in Summer, then in autumn and again in Winter. Only refugee camps were recreated in Mumbai and some sequences in Agra, but this part of story is brief. Shots in Kashmir included several places such as the Lalit Hotel in Srinagar, on shikaras in the middle of a lake, on the backwaters of the Dal, in a desolate Hindu house, near Hazratbal and many more.^[9]

Some scenes were reported to be shot in Wandhama near Ganderbal, where one of the biggest massacre in the Valley, 23 Kashmiri Hindus — four children, nine women and ten men were massacred in 1998.^[10]

Casting[]

Lead characters of Kashmiri birth, Aadil Khan and Sadia were cast to lend authenticity. Several Kashmiri Pandits were selected for principal cast. Also, to make refugee camps as similar as possible to the real ones 30 years ago (19 January 1990), actual refugees were cast. Approximately 4,000 out of 400,000 refugees, who are currently inhabitants of Jagti Nagrota Migrant Camp and other refugee camps agreed to take part. They were women, children and older people. Refugee camp scenes were shot for several days and nights in Bhagwati Nagar, Jammu.^[11]

Release[]

The film was released on 7 February 2020.^[1] It was released digitally on April 4, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video in India.^[12]

This film was criticized and even boycotted by some people for focusing on the "romantic love story" rather than the forced exodus of Kashmiri Hindus.^[13]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

The Times of India gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, and called it largely a one-sided story which does cater to the cinematic appeal of certain movie-goers.^[2] Jyoti Kanyal of India Today also gives the movie 3 out of 5 stars and writes that the story "beautifully combines real incidents and a fictional love story".^[14] Both TOI and India Today praise debutantes Sadia and Aadil Khan.^[14][2] Newslaundry reviews the film as a successful love story but a failed political drama.^[15] The Hindu gives a more critical review, saying that "Chopra buries politics under the garb of ‘love and hope’" and ends up making the movie simplistic.^[16] Livemint also comments on the 'simplification of politics behind the exodus' in the movie.^[17] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in also writes a similar review, weak in history, strong in love.^[18] Firstpost also gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars.^[8] According to The Wire (India),'Shikara' is a poetically told tale that someone loses its way. Tanul Thakur wrote, "It’s a promise both personal and communal: of a husband to his wife, of a community to an individual. It’s shared by family and friends and neighbours – of different faiths, different grievances. They’re still people though, bound together by common joys: of cricket, cinema, life. Then there’s the place and time, Kashmir in the late 1980s, a land wondrously beautiful, a period politically tragic."^[19]

Music[]

Shikara
Soundtrack album by Sandesh Shandilya, Abhay Sopori and Rohit Kulkarni
Released	6 February 2020[20]
Recorded	2019
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	24:07
Language	Hindi
Label	Zee Music Company
External audio Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube

The film score was composed by A. R. Rahman and his apprentice group Qutub-E-Kripa. This marked Rahman's first collaboration with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, 26 years after Rahman declined an offer by Chopra in 1994.^[21]

The film's songs are composed by Sandesh Shandilya, Abhay Sopori and Rohit Kulkarni with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, Bashir Arif and Raqueeb Alam.

Box office[]

Shikara earned ₹1.20 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹1.85 crore. On the third day, the film collected ₹1.90 crore, taking total opening weekend collection to ₹4.95 crore. The lifetime collection of the film in net gross India was ₹8.15 crore.^[3]

References[]