Alia Bhatt's 'Raazi' didn't do justice to the book, claims author Harinder Sikka

Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal starrer Raazi worked wonders at the box office and won the hearts of netizens but seems like the film did not do justice to the book, on which the film is based, claims author Harinder Sikka. The film Raazi was directed by Meghna Gulzar and is based on Sikka's book Calling Sehmat, and the author says he was not happy over the omission of the highlight Tricolour scene in the film, which is based on a real incident during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

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The story revolves around a young Kashmiri girl named Sehmat, played by Alia Bhatt, who agrees to marry a Pakistani Army officer in order to spy for India. But according to Sikka, in the book, the story ends with Sehmat saluting the Tricolour. If the film had the same ending, the film would have won the National Award. He told the director that she has stopped the film from getting the National Award by cutting the Tricolour scene in the film. Though this was done by the wishes of the filmmakers, Sikka still has resentment over it.

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Harindar Sikka's point of view

Talking about his book, Sikka said that he was a person who had never written a book, and his first book Calling Sehmat sold around five lakh copies. Sehmat taught him how to live. Sikka also mentioned that people easily paint all Kashmiri Muslims with the same brush, saying that Kashmiris are terrorists. But they have to understand that no mother wants her son to carry a stone in his hand. Terrorism has been being funded there for so many years but there have also been Kashmiris like Sehmat who gave up their entire families for the country. Much has changed since the abrogation of Article 370. His next book is Section 370, and he said that Sehmat is the inspiration again.

Sikka expressed this at a media publication's event.

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