Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s directorial Shikara- A Love Letter From Kashmir has been creating quite a buzz across the social media, mostly because the ace director is returning to Hindi film direction after more than a decade and also because of the changes in its release date.
Vinod Chopra who has produced three of the most successful films of the past decade (3 Idiots, PK and Sanju) has not directed a film in India since 2007 when Eklavya bombed badly. In 2015 he directed a Hollywood film Broken Horses featuring Vincent D’Onofrio that was a disaster.
All eyes were set on Shikara whose release dates have been changed a couple of times. But now it seems the film might not see the light of the big screen and may go directly on a digital platform. A report on Bollywood Hungama suggests that the film is going to release on an OTT platform. The film was originally supposed to release in November this year but was postponed to 21 February 2020 then it was again preponed to 7 February.
#Shikara – A Love Letter from Kashmir advances its release. It will now hit theatres on 7th February, 2020. A film directed by #VidhuVinodChopra. Produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. Presented and co-produced by @foxstarhindi.
— Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films (@VVCFilms) November 18, 2019
This is not something new and even seems to be a new upcoming trend after Karan Johar’s Drive went straight to the giant streaming platform Netflix. The film that starred Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez was initially supposed to release in cinema halls on 7 September 2018, but was pushed to 28 June 2019, and ultimately did not see a theatrical release. It directly premiered on Netfilx and was criticized by the critics and audience alike.
Even buzz is that Sushant’s another upcoming film Dil Bechara might also go straight on Amazon Prime even though the release date of the film has been announced as 8 May next year. Fox Star Studios is still in talks with Amazon Prime to sell the film to the OTT giant. If the negotiations fail then the film will hit the screens of cinema halls on 8 May next year. The film was originally scheduled to release on 29 November this year.
Coming back to Shikara- A Love Letter From Kashmir, shooting of the film reportedly began in March 2018 in Kashmir. While not much is known about the film, some reports suggest the story of this new project was written by Vidhu alongside a local Kashmiri writer.
This is not the first that Vidhu Vinod Chopra is making a film involving Kashmir as one of the major elements in the theme. He had earlier helmed the action thriller film Mission Kashmir in 2000.
Directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shikara: A Love Letter From Kashmir is presented and co-produced by Fox Star Studios.