Shikara, a Bollywood movie by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, released recently, was shown as based on the life of Kashmiri Hindus at the time of its promotion. The posters showed ‘Shikara – The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits’. However, on the day the film was released, the poster of the film was dramatically changed to ‘Shikara – A Timeless Love Story in the Worst of Time’. The movie hides the realities. Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus were killed, women raped, thousands of temples were destroyed, 4.5 lakh Kashmiri Hindus displaced to other places. But the movie hasn’t shown these facts. Killings of a very few Hindus only has been shown. Vidhu Vinod Chopra has suppressed the brutal and blood imbrued history of Kashmiri Hindus. Instead of consoling the grieving Kashmiri Hindus, Chopra has rubbed salt on their wounds; the wounds that remain uncured for past 30 years. Therefore, Shri. Ramesh Shinde, on behalf of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, appeals that the film should be boycotted.
In the beginning, we felt that Bollywood, for the very first time, has taken cognizance of the atrocities faced by Kashmiri Hindus. But the fact was something else. The film portrays brotherhood exhibited by Muslims, anti-India scenes on one hand and no probability whatsoever of the rehabilitation of Kashmiri Hindus back in the Kashmir valley on the other. Shinde pointed out that, this is once again what one can say as ‘a psychological atrocity’ upon the Kashmiri Hindu community. Indian society will never forgive this inhumaneness. Therefore, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti urges the public to boycott Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film.
