Filmmaker Rahul Dholakia has recounted the risks he and his crew faced while shooting the 2010 Bollywood film Lamhaa, starring Sanjay Dutt and Bipasha Basu, in Kashmir.
Speaking about the experience, Dholakia revealed that they were held hostage for over four hours, a situation he attributed to the unrest in 2010 during the first term of Omar Abdullah as Chief Minister.
In an interview with casting director Mukesh Chhabra on Mashable India, Dholakia described the difficulties they encountered amid the tense atmosphere in Kashmir, including his decision to mislead actress Bipasha Basu into filming during a curfew.
He said, “I was adamant about shooting Lamhaa in Kashmir. There was no government, and terrorists were everywhere,”
Pertinently, an elected government established and recognised by the constitution and government of India, was run by Omar Abdullah in Jammu Kashmir.
Recalling the alleged hostage incident, he added, “On the first day, we were taken hostage along with 10,000 people for 4-4.5 hours. They surrounded us while we were filming in a mandi, locking all the doors and demanding to know, ‘Who is the producer?’ The production team hid, and I stepped forward, asking, ‘What is the problem?’ They insisted I accompany them. The CRPF jawans and Jammu Police fled, leaving me locked in a room with 400 others, where I was told, ‘You are against Kashmir.’”
Dholakia further elaborated on the situation, saying, “I spent 4-4.5 hours in captivity. A CRPF officer gave me his number before leaving, and we were eventually released when someone recognized me as the director of Parzania. I pleaded, ‘If you have an issue with me, let the women in my crew go.’ They replied, ‘You are in Kashmir, not Hindustan. We respect our women.’”
The filmmaker referenced his previous work, Parzania, which focused on the 2002 Gulbarg Society massacre during the Gujarat riots, where 69 people were killed.
After the hostage crisis, Bipasha Basu temporarily left the shoot but returned to complete the film.
Dholakia explained his casting choice for Basu, stating, “I wanted to film in the Valley, but few actors were willing to shoot there. Karisma had just had children and was interested in the project but refused to work in Kashmir. Deepika Padukone also declined for the same reason.”
Dholakia also mentioned how he tricked Bipasha into shooting during a curfew. “I filmed during a curfew with Bipasha, and she was furious with me. We didn’t inform her about the curfew. She was happy, saying, ‘Kashmir is so beautiful. There aren’t many people here.’ When she later realized there was a curfew, she called and said, ‘How dare you make me shoot during a curfew?’”
Lamhaa tells the story of an undercover Indian Army officer who collaborates with the daughter of a separatist leader to expose those responsible for extremist attacks in Kashmir.