'To be uprooted from your home is an excruciating mental agony'

'To be uprooted from your home is an excruciating mental agony'

While promoting his film Shikara, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra talks about the angst and pain his mother experienced after their family was displaced and how he hopes that spring returns to the valley

For Vidhu Vinod Chopra, his comeback directorial Shikara — The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits is not a just a movie but his own experience. The film showcases the 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Not many know that the filmmaker, along with his family, too had to relocate. 

Presented by Fox Star Studios, Shikara has garnered a lot of attention since its trailer released. Starring Aadil Khan and Sadia, the film is set to release on February 7. Though fiction, the film is based on real events, says the filmmaker known for producing hits like Parineeta, PK, 3 Idiots, Lage Raho Munna Bhai and others. To maintain the authenticity of the events, 30 year old actual footage has been used in the film along with 4,000 real Kashmiri Pandits.
 
Excerpts from an interview: 

Why did it take you so long to make Shikara, a subject so close to your heart?
I started work on the film post my mother’s demise in 2007. The Kashmiri Pandit exodus is a known issue but the complexities and the build-up of events which led to the driving away of the Pandits is not known. This movie required significant research so that we could tell an absorbing story which is fact based and helps in bringing this conversation to the fore. I have done a lot of work all these years but this was perhaps my most challenging project as I had to remain dispassionate as a moviemaker to depict the truth and yet make a compelling argument that the only solution to such hatred is love and that is at the centre of my movie. The love between Shiv Kumar Dhar and Shanti Dhar (Shanti was also my mother’s name) is a binding factor which forces us to think beyond hatred. The shoot was mostly done in Kashmir which was under heavy security cover so we had limited time to get work done. Authenticity was the key. The writing also took significant time as I had to sift through tonnes of documentation and video footage to bring reality to celluloid.

How much of the story is your personal experience and fiction? 
Being a Kashmiri, I have lived and experienced ‘heaven on earth’. I was born and raised in the valley, I saw the political and ideological shift first hand, could sense the scenarios changing but never ever imagined that it would lead to driving out of an entire community. The pain cannot be explained when people had to leave everything and run for their lives within minutes. Friends turned foes overnight. Fundamentalism overpowered people’s love for each other. External forces drove the agenda and brought death and destruction in the valley. I have lived through the pain and hence most of what you will see in the movie are my personal experiences told through the eyes of Shanti the character, and also Shanti my mother. 

You have shot with real Kashmiri Pandits instead of real actors. Why?
Authenticity was the key in order to draw out correct emotions of a community displaced from their homeland. The movie would have looked fake with made up actors trying to bring out an emotion of a catastrophic event which changed their lives. I was fortunate enough that I had the blessings of my mother and the support of the Kashmiri Pandit refugee community who helped me complete this movie. Without their help and contribution, this film would not have been possible. 

What are your memories of Kashmir?
One of my fondest memories of growing up in Kashmir in the 70s is travelling with the family in a houseboat. It used to take us almost a week to reach the Kheer Bhawani temple. We used to cook on our way to the temple, stopping enroute at the Hazratbal Shrine. We would do this each time, without fail. There was absolutely no distinction in our heads between those two places of worship. This memory was in my head even when I was making Mission Kashmir, where I tried to portray how forces use religion to divide and destabilise us. I hope and pray that days like that return to the valley, perhaps for another young Vidhu Vinod Chopra who might be growing up in Kashmir! That is my dream.

How challenging was it for you and your family to settle somewhere else? 
It was particularly difficult for my mother who came at my insistence for a week to Mumbai, to attend the premiere of Parinda and could never return. From that time till the time she died I saw the angst and the pain in her eyes every single day, at the loss of her home, her community, her friends, and her happiness. For Kashmiri Pandits, Kashmir is and will remain their homeland and the pain of separation cannot be expressed in words. To be uprooted from your home is an excruciating mental agony. 

Right now, the abrogation of Article 370 has taken centre stage. But no one is talking about the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.   
I feel enraged. I never imagined that the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits would last beyond a year. Article 370 has had a mixed response. Ladakhis are thrilled about it. Jammu is happy. Kashmir is unhappy. But there is an old saying in Kashmiri, ‘Sheen galli, wand tsali, te pat aayi bahaar’. It means that the snow will melt, winter will vanish and spring will come again. And I hope that spring returns to the valley soon.

Why did you stay away from direction for 12 years?
I was involved in the movie making process. But for me to direct the story had to be compelling. I had made up my mind that I am going to bring the Kashmiri Pandit story to celluloid and that process itself took me all these years. I was writing, researching, visiting, talking to people, identifying actors and trying to create an authentic story which helps me to dispassionately tell the truth behind the issue. For me, this is not just a movie, it is a movement of sorts. To make the entire nation realise the trauma this community experienced and the sheer helplessness with which they have been packed off in various refugee camps across the country. This movie was difficult to write. I worked with Abhijat Joshi and Rahul Pandita for several years before I could bring it to life. When you see the film, you will know.

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