Shikara - A honest review !!

We entered 30th year of exile this year on 19th Jan, for the last 30 years, not many directors/producers from Bollywood had the courage to show our side of the story, barring a few, not even fleeting mention of our plight and sufferings was shown or ever depicted. When the trailer of Shikara was released, we got overwhelmed and pinned high hopes on the movie, that it would show what happened to us and what led to our exodus, we also hoped it would show our resilience and how we survived to tell our story to the world.​

I will divide my review into two parts, one who has seen the exodus as a kid, one who has seen his parents suffering and how their love and bonding overcame all hardships and another as an activist, who is now in 13th year of his activism.

Beware, there would be some spoilers ahead !

I was only 7 years old on 19th Jan 1990, I still remember the mob gherao around our home and how they pelted stones, I still remember our neighbor Lassa Kak, portraying coming to our rescue, I still remember boarding the taxi, with 8 people perched on each other and carrying only 2 suitcases, with a hope of returning back soon, I remember it was raining like hell in Jammu when we reached and all our clothes getting drenched in rain. I remember how my father would go every day to relief commisionary to make sure, we get some support, I remember, how happy was my Mother, knowing that her Father, My Nana ji too has reached safely after one month of no information. I remember how my father ensured both me and my brother get best of education and how we would let go of his fav brand of cigarettes and smoke bidis instead so that he could save money to pay of our hefty fee. Shikara the Movie portrays most of it, it was too emotional to see it all again in the movie.

I went back to Kashmir in the month of Sept 2013, exactly after a year my Grandma passed away, not many in my family know this, but i had kept a flower from her antim yatra with me, I had promised myself i will immerse this in water of  Kashmir, I did the same when i went to Gangbal, post that i went to my Home in Rainawari and started looking for the things i remembered, it was not the same , my memories were colorful, the home was all GREEN, i cried seeing my temple broken, Shikara depicted the entire scene, i cried seeing it again.  When the lead character Shiv Kumar Dhar is on his way back to Kashmir, he recites a beautiful poem "Ae Waade Shehzaadi", I too wrote a poem while on my way, inside a flight, though not as beautiful.

"Meri maa kya ab bhi Tera aanchal waise hi hoga..
 Thand hawa mei tethurte mere sharirr ko dhakta hoga
Isse aaanchal ki chaun mei Maine Janam Liya...
 Kya aaj bhi tera dil mere liye tadapta hoga
Main to tukda tere hriday ka tha na maa... hamesha meri chot se tere aansu bahe hain. ..
 phir se kya usi apni god mein bithakar sunegi...
tujhse alag maine kya kya dukh sahe hain? ?
Main tera bichuda hua beta, tera lal.... kya main pratut raha hu tere aankhon k neer mein...
kya phir bachpan ki tarah gale lagayegi mujhe... wahi Bad ki chaon tale Vitasta k teer pe? ?"

As Actors both Aadil Khan and Sadia have portrayed their roles with brilliant restraint, Sadia as Shaanti looks exactly like a Kashmir Pandit woman, her mannerisms and the way she conveys her feelings are very innocents, many of her scenes reminded me of my mother. 

That's it about my story, the story of 7-year-old Kid who saw Exodus first hand, who saw the struggle of his parents.

As an activist, this movie is not entirely balanced in its presentation, It lacks a lot of scenes, it doesn't even have a fleeting mention of rapes of Hindu women, it has I don't know why, not shown the slogans from the mosques, While one of the reasons of peak of terrorism in Kashmir was rigged elections of 1987, but that was not the entire reason,  it ironically puts blame on  America while exonerating the local muslims. The scene involving kids chanting "Mandir wahi Banayenge" was not needed, this could have been avoided.


#Shikara is just one story out of 7 lakh stories, it portrays our pain, longing and struggle very well, but shows the perpetrators of our genocide merely as shadows.

I would strongly recommend everyone to see this movie as it instills a lot of hurt, but would also suggest not to take the end of this movie very seriously, Kashmiri Pandits will return to valley, one day, to their Land, on their own, not in a compromised position but to their homeland.


Shikara is a like an expensive pizza. With exotic toppings but the base is Half  baked, the toppings are great but pizza on the whole is not what you expected it to be.

Watch Shikara, till someone shows our exodus in entirety and not balance the causes of it. Our story needs to be told 1000 times for people to realise exactly what has happened to us.