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. The film was released on 7 February 2020.
Plot
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This article needs an improved plot summary. (March 2021)
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The film is based on the love story of Shanti (Sadia Khateeb) and Shiv Dhar, who are Kashmiri Pandits in the backdrop of the Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir. The book Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita has inspired many parts of the movie.
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
- 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.
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.
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.
Release
The film was released on 7 February 2020. It was released digitally on April 4, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video in India.
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.
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. 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”. Both TOI and India Today praise debutantes Sadia and Aadil Khan. Newslaundry reviews the film as a successful love story but a failed political drama. 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. Livemint also comments on the ‘simplification of politics behind the exodus’ in the movie. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in also writes a similar review, weak in history, strong in love. Firstpost also gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars.
Music
| Shikara | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by
Sandesh Shandilya, Abhay Sopori and Rohit Kulkarni
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| Released | 6 February 2020 | ||||
| Recorded | 2019 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 24:07 | ||||
| Language | Hindi | ||||
| Label | Zee Music Company | ||||
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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.
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.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Mar Jaayein Hum” | Irshad Kamil | Sandesh Shandilya | Papon, Shradha Mishra | 3:58 |
| 2. | “Ghar Bhara Sa Lage” | Irshad Kamil | Sandesh Shandilya | Papon, Shreya Ghoshal | 3:47 |
| 3. | “Shukrana Gul Khile” | Bashir Arif | Abhay Sopori | Munir Ahmad Mir | 2:36 |
| 4. | “Chattar Pattar” | Raqueeb Alam | Rohit Kulkarni | Mika Singh | 3:38 |
| 5. | “Teri Arzoo Mein” | Irshad Kamil | Sandesh Shandilya | Papon, Kaushiki Chakraborty | 4:07 |
| 6. | “Ae Wadi Shehzadi” | Irshad Kamil | Sandesh Shandilya | Papon | 3:35 |
| 7. | “Umr Guzri” | Irshad Kamil | Sandesh Shandilya | Aadil Khan | 2:26 |
| Total length: | 24:07 | ||||
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.