While Vidhu Vinod Chopra was all set to bring Shikara: The Untold Story Of Kashmiri Pandits the film trapped into trouble after a PIL filled in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The public interest litigation was filled to demand a stay on its release and deleting some of the scenes.
The film is set against the backdrop of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus from the Kashmir Valley. The story is set in the late 1989 and early 1990, in the wake of violent Islamist insurgency. The film is scheduled to release on February 7.
According to the petitioners Iftikhar Misgar, Majid Hyderi and Irfan Hafiz Lone, the film is showing untrue facts about Kashmir and Kashmiri Pandits.
A daily quoted Misgar as saying, “We are asking for stalling the release and deleting a few scenes that portray the valley’s Muslims in a bad light.”
“We have urged the high court to take the case up on a priority basis,” he added.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films’ official social media handle posted a video that said: “In 1990, more than 4,00,000 Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their home. 30 years later, their story will finally be told.”
It also claims that a selected audience at the special pre-screening was shown the film and they praise and gave a standing ovation.
One of the screenplay writers of the film, Rahul Pandita, wrote: “I am a Kashmiri Pandit who lost everything in 1990, while you were doing God knows what in Bombay. I am the writer of #shikara and I would not let anyone compromise on the Pandit story. I will not betray the memory of those who fell to the bullets of radical Islamists.”
Chopra is making a Bollywood comeback as a director with “Shikara: The Untold Story Of Kashmiri Pandits” after 2007 release, “Eklavya“, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Jackie Shroff, and Jimmy Sheirgill.
