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The 2010 film Lamhaa, featuring Sanjay Dutt and Bipasha Basu in the lead roles, was entirely shot in Kashmir. In a recent interaction, director Rahul Dholakia opened up about the risks he and his crew faced while filming in the Valley during a peak in militant activities. He recounted a harrowing experience of being held hostage by separatists for over four hours, and shared how he tricked Bipasha into filming during a curfew.
He continued, “I was there for 4-4.5 hours. A CRPF officer gave me his number and then left. We eventually got out because someone recognized me as the guy who made Parzania. I said, ‘If you have a problem with me, let the women in my crew go.’ They responded, ‘You are in Kashmir, not Hindustan. We respect our women.'” Dholakia’s film Parzania addresses the Gulbarg Society massacre, which claimed 69 lives during the communal riots in Gujarat.
The filmmaker recalled that after they were held hostage, Bipasha left the shoot but later returned to finish the film. When asked why he cast her as a Kashmiri woman, Dholakia explained, “I wanted to shoot in the Valley, but not many people were willing to do so. Karisma had just had kids and wanted to be a part of the film but refused to shoot in Kashmir. Deepika Padukone gave me the same answer.”
Dholakia also revealed how Bipasha was upset with him for tricking her into shooting during a curfew, “I shot in curfew with Bipasha and she got really pissed with me. We didn’t tell her there is a curfew. She was so happy. She told me, ‘Kashmir is so beautiful. There aren’t many people here.’ Later, when she got to know there is a curfew, she called me and said, ‘How dare you make me shoot during curfew?'”
Lamhaa follows the story of an undercover Indian Army officer who takes the daughter of a separatist leader to uncover the culprits behind extremist attacks in Kashmir.
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