SHIKARA

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s movie  ‘Shikara’  was released on February 07. It is based on true events, is an attempt to bring to light the quandary of Kashmiri Pandits and their undefeatable strength and courage in the face of the militancy and unsympathetic political situation. Sadia and Aadil Khan both debutants who live in a beautiful village in Kashmir, plays  story of a love that remains unextinguished in small and congested camps in the city of Jammu as they were forced to leave their homes and spend their rest of life  as refugees in their own country on  horrific exodus of January 19, 1990 .

Shiv writes around 1600 letters to the President of the United States to apprise him of the harsh condition of the Kashimiri Pandits but of no avail. What American President has to do with the local Islamic radicals is not understood.

After watching the movies sometimes it appears that Vidhu Vinod Chopra has not focused on the religious ideology  that caused  the unending pain and hell life of Kashmiri Pandits but simply portrayed a   love story with Kashmir crisis as background and make it a politically correct movie. As a love story the movie is perfect with excellent music by AR Rahman but the film restrict  it not to go deep in the actual  ordeal of the Kashmiri Pandits.

PUBLIC REVIEW

‘The film has secularised the Hindu Genocide in Kashmir and romanticised it for the mega bucks it will make. Homes and murders are a mere prop in this story. Massacres, rapes and vandalised temples must have been too gory to qualify for even a prop, in a love story.’ – Aakash Sehghal

‘The film is true more to its changed tagline ‘A Timeless Love Story in the Worst of Times’. Watch Shikara if you like to watch a fictional love story and don’t want to be troubled by the truth of what actually transpired. The performance of female led is admirable, so is the cinematography in large parts.’ – Manpreet Wadhera

‘Shikara is a soppy, largely mediocre love story that glosses over the Kashmiri Hindu genocide and ethnic cleansing and tries to rationalise Islamist terror through the excuse of, believe it or not, easy availability of the gun.’ – Ashneet Oberoi

By Anjani Sharma