Shikara
Ratings: 4/5
Duration: 1 Hrs 58 Mins
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Release Date: 7th February 2020 (India)
Star Cast: Sadia, Adil Khan, Faisal Simon, Priyanshu Chatterjee
Plot: The film is centered around the mass evacuation of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. The story traces the life of a young newlyweds couple Shiv Kumar Dhar, a man of letters, a poet and scholar (Aadil Khan) and Shanti, a loving wife (Sadia), who lives a blissful life in Kashmir.
The love story unfolds between Shiv Kumar Dhar (Aadil Khan), a poet, PhD student and teacher, and the nursing student Shanti Sapru (Sadia). Shanti and Shiv’s story is in the foreground amidst communal tensions and violence peak during January 1990 when Islamic militants unleash violent attacks to drive out the Kashmiri Pandits.
Shanti, Shiv and their families joins lakhs of other Kashmiri Pandits who leave behind a life in Kashmir and are forced to settle in overcrowded refugee camps in Jammu, with the promise that they will return back to their home in Kashmir some day.
Shiv teaches the children in the camps. Over 18 years, he writes letters to US presidents seeking intervention about the plight of the Pandit community.
Review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Shikara’ is dedicated to the memory of his mother Shanti Devi who like other Kashmiri Pandits could not return home due to the insurgency that began in the late eighties, which ultimately lead in a mass exit in January 1990.
The film, Shikara stays true to the 90s era and brings to light the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. To make the refugee camps look authentic as possible to the real ones 30 years ago (19 January 1990), actual refugees were cast. Throughout the film, the central theme was not derailed even once in various subplots – both real and reel, since the director aimed on emotions, the loss and the almost three-decade-long unfulfilled desire for one’s homeland, rather than politics. Certainly, Shikara is Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s most personal film and the most sensitive one too.
When it comes to performances lead characters of Kashmiri birth, Aadil Khan and Sadia were cast who seamlessly blends well in a familiar environment. They made an attractive pair to watch on screen.
Aadil Khan is impressive, especially when conveying anguish and heartbreak while Sadia captures vulnerability and optimism. They have commendable chemistry, and carried the film on their shoulders, despite being new to the film industry.
As far as the technical aspects are concerned, Rangarajan Ramabadran's cinematography -the stunning aerial shots, Shikhar Mishra's crisp edits, and Sonal Sawant's impeccable production design, complements the narrative.
Additionally, the music and background score by A.R Rahman and Sandesh Shandilya with able support from lyricist Irshad Kamil of ‘Shikara’ is soul touching,
Overall, Shikara is a well-structured film that has achieved greatness with a holistic perspective. It is heart-wrenching and will leave the viewers thinking about how dead humanity is and how greed and hatred can ruin everything.
