Shikara Special Show with Vidhu Vinod Chopra: Unheard stories about Kashmiri Pandits

Vidhu Vinod Chopra: We need conversation and not controversies.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra: All of our homes were snatched. It's quite something that we (Kashmiri Pandits) stood strong on our feet. While we faced the worst, we never touched guns. We aren't beggars, we didn't open our hands in front of the government, we stood on our feet. It's a big deal, not a small feat,

Shikara co-writer Rahul Pandita, who is also a Kashmiri Pandit, reveals that people were given hit lists daily and were told to kill 4-5 Kashmiri Pandits daily from every locality. They wanted to instill fear in Kashmiri Pandits so that they leave the land sooner.

" Kashmiri Pandits were asked to say slogans like "Agar Kashmir Mein Rehna Hoga, to allah-hu-akbar bolna hoga, People were shot dead every day."

"Children were so scared that they hid in their houses. The women and girls were asked to stay (so that they can exploit them) and men were asked to leave." - Audience member

The filmmaker reveals that he has shown the stories of several Kashmiri Pandits in his film Shikara. The audience, which includes Kashmiri Pandits, also recall the stories of their struggle and reveals how their houses were burnt and they were forced to leave their own land.

Chopra expresses his desire to go back to Kashmir once and take everything that belonged from there and find a place for it in its own land.

Co-writer of Shikara Abhijat Joshi talks about how difficult and different it was from him to write the story of the film Shikara. He has written stories like 3 Idiots and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. He says that this story is unbelievable and it hasn't been told in 30 years.

I've made this film for my mother, and for all the mothers and people whose lives turned upside down in a month, in a day: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

A Kashmiri Pandit himself, Vidhu Vinod Chopra recalls his mother's story during that time. "My mother came here for the premiere of 'Parinda' with one suitcase but could not return. She came for a week and couldn't go to Kashmir for ten years. When I was making 'Mission Kashmir', I took her along because I had security. It was then she visited our house, which was by then ruined."