Alia Bhatt starrer, 'Raazi' was based on author, Harinder Sikka's 2008 novel, 'Calling Sehmat'. The author recently took a dig at Meghna Gulzar for twisting the film's plot.
Alia Bhatt starrer, Raazi, released in 2018, was one of the most loved films of the year. The movie, based on an Indian spy, ‘Sehmat Khan’, a Kashmiri woman who married a Pakistani officer to get intel during the Indo-Pak war in 1971, broke many records. However, the author of the book, Calling Sehmat, from which the film was inspired, isn’t too pleased by the way the director, Meghna Gulzar, handled the plot.
Amid the success of Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar 2, author Harinder Sikka recently spoke about the 2018 film, Raazi, inspired by his book, Calling Sehmat. The book gave an account of a Kashmiri girl, who, at the request of her father, becomes a RAW agent and gets married into a family of military officers in Pakistan.
But unlike the other Bollywood films, in which Pakistani military personnel were seen brutal, Raazi portrayed them otherwise. It didn’t go too well with the author Harinder, who called out Meghna for twisting the plot. Taking to X, Harinder penned his regret on trusting Meghna with the film’s plot and wrote:
“Calling Sehmat #Raazi ranks among the top books on espionage ever written, globally. It exposes Pakistan across border, hostile forces in Bollywood & Punjab-based criminals within. Appointing Meghna Gulzar was my gravest misjudgment. Despite clear warnings, I failed to foresee how ideological bias would end up diminishing the true spirit of the protagonist.”
Raazi was Alia’s first political film. She played a selfless woman ready to die for her country. But the film was originally titled Sehmat, which seemed like a perfect title, given the book’s title. But Meghna decided to change it after an interaction with the book’s author, Harinder Sikka. It was reported that Meghna decided to go her own way, apart from Sikka’s narrative. Talking about the title being changed, Alia once revealed:
“We were in two minds about whether to go with Sehmat or Raazi. We finally went with Raazi. Naming the film after the protagonist kind of deflects the attention from the film to the actor. I am more comfortable with the film not being named after my character."
While Harinder Sikka’s Calling Sehmat was anti-Pakistan, Meghna’s Raazi offered a more sympathetic portrayal of Pakistani characters. But Sikka later felt that in the process of humanising the enemy, Raazi, lost much of its originality. The film, which told the story of an Indian spy who enters Pakistan to gather information, received mixed reviews from audiences, with some calling Meghna’s move brave and others criticising her for losing the plot.
In the film, Alia Bhatt shines as Sehmat alongside Vicky Kaushal, who played her husband, ‘Iqbal Syed’. Other cast members include Rajit Kapur, Soni Razdan, Shishir Sharma, Amruta Khanvilkar, Arif Zakaria and Jaideep Ahlawat.
What do you think about Harinder Sikka’s allegations against Meghna Gulzar?
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