Amidst Criticism of Film, Shikara’s Writer Tweets His Defence

Shikara director Vidhu Vinod Chopra has been receiving a lot of criticism after his comments on the film.

Shikara’s writer Rahul Pandita speaks about the criticism the film has been receiving.

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A day after Vidhu Vinod Chopra said that his film Shikara was a way of saying people needed to move on 30 years after the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, the call to boycott his film started trending on social media. Terming the movie as a means of ‘healing’ and ‘a fight between two friends,’ Chopra emphasized that nearly half the crew of his film was the local Muslim population that was aware of the subject, at a special screening on 18 January.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit criticised the film’s trailer and Chopra’s stance, saying that “making a film on #KashmiriHinduExodus & not questioning the majority population who came out in support of terrorists esp. on 19th Jan. Is like giving a clean chit to #AjmalKasab. Victim saying sorry to trrsts & and terrorisists hugging the victim is a big farce & impossible.”

Writer of Shikara Rahul Pandita defended the movie saying as a Kashmiri Pandit himself he will not “betray the memory of those who fell to the bullets of radical Islamists.”

Vidhu Vinod Chopra was also attacked for trivializing the issue and using it to promote the film. The trolls even said that in reality no Kashmiri Hindu would ever want to move on.

At the screening, Chopra said “everyone who ignored the plight of Kashmiri Pandits must use the Internet to say ‘sorry’.”

Commenting on the process behind his film Shikara – based on events that took place during the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits – he added, “All Muslims in Kashmir have only helped us to make this film possible.”