Alia Bhatt’s Raazi is widely regarded as one of the standout performances of her career, but the film has continued to face criticism from Harinder Singh Sikka, author of Calling Sehmat, the book that inspired the 2018 spy drama. In a recent interview, Sikka levelled fresh allegations against filmmaker Gulzar, director Meghna Gulzar and an individual he identified as a representative of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment.Sikka claimed that his first meeting with Gulzar took place around 2016–17, during which the veteran lyricist and filmmaker urged him to consider Meghna Gulzar for the project.“When I went to meet Gulzar at his home, he told me, ‘My daughter hasn’t gotten any work for four years. People think that Talvar was made by Vishal Bhardwaj. So give her some work’. I said, ‘I will do it. It’s a promise’,” he said in an interview with YouTube channel DesimartiniSikka added that he later discussed the matter with Vishal Bhardwaj, who, according to him, responded, “Vishal said, ‘I am like Gulzar’s son. That statement said everything’.”According to Sikka, he had agreed to part with the film rights of Calling Sehmat only on the condition that he would have a say in selecting both the director and the lead actors. He alleged that Junglee Pictures eventually accepted those terms, though reluctantly.“And that is how Meghna Gulzar became the director of this project,” he said.Sikka further claimed that Meghna maintained a warm relationship with him throughout the making of the film, addressing him as “uncle.” However, he alleged that their equation changed once filming concluded.“I don’t want to call you uncle anymore. I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” he claimed she wrote to him after the film wrapped.The author also criticised several creative liberties taken in adapting his book, saying the changes significantly altered the essence of the original story.“As per the book, when Sehmat came back, she was welcomed by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) with a red carpet and she saluted the tricolour. That was the real story. Meghna removed that and brought Sehmat back in a depressed state and they showed it like a Kashmiri woman has made a mistake fighting for India. There was no tricolour in the film but there were so many Pakistani flags,” he said and added, “They painted the Pakistani army as soft and questioned IB.”Sikka also alleged that he contacted Gulzar after Raazi was released in 2018 and accused him of delaying the publication of his book. He further claimed that Gulzar influenced organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival not to invite him.“Gulzar called Jaipur Literature Festival and told them not to invite me when I had made so many efforts to make his daughter a director.”He also alleged that the film’s title was deliberately changed from Calling Sehmat to Raazi.“They changed the name of the film from Calling Sehmat to Raazi so Sehmat doesn’t gain as much importance as Meghna because they wanted to protect Meghna,” he claimed.During the same conversation, Sikka revisited an earlier incident that he said took place in 2008, when an individual named Samar Khan, who allegedly identified himself as a director at Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, approached him to acquire the rights to Calling Sehmat.According to Sikka, he quoted Rs 1.5 crore for the rights and insisted on retaining control over the choice of director and cast. He claimed those demands were rejected.“He got up and said, ‘We give Rs 5-7 lakh to Chetan Bhagat. Who are you?’ I refused to sell him the book. He said, ‘We are going to make it anyway. You do whatever you want to do’.”Sikka further alleged that after discussing the matter with a friend, Major Chibba, the dispute was resolved and he received a written apology from Samar Khan. However, he claimed that during a later meeting, Khan made another remark.“In two weeks, I got a written apology from Samar Khan but when he met me in person, he said, ‘I won’t let you work in Mumbai’.”Earlier this year, in March, Sikka had described allowing Meghna Gulzar to direct Raazi as his “gravest misjudgement.” Despite his repeated criticism of the film and its makers over the years, neither Meghna Gulzar nor Gulzar has publicly responded to his allegations.
