Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi was originally titled Sehmat. Harindar S. Sikka’s book on which Raazi was supposed to be based was called Calling Sehmat. And yes, Sehmat seemed the right title for the film. That was Alia Bhatt’s name in the film. What made the director Meghna Gulzar change the title?
The story goes that at some point in her interaction with the author Sikka, Meghna, for reasons best known to her, decided to go her own way, radically away from Sikka’s narrative.
This is what Alia Bhatt had to say about the title change: “We were in two minds about whether to go with Sehmat or Raazi. We finally went with Raazi. Naming the film after the protagonist kind of deflects the attention from the film to the actor. I am more comfortable with the film not being named after my character.”
While Sikka’s Calling Sehmat was distinctly anti-Pakistani, Meghna Gulzar decided to make the Pakistani characters humane and sympathetic. No harm in that. But in the process of humanising the enemy, Raazi, nee Sehmat, lost much of its original sting. If you see the film now, its politics seems extremely ambivalent. Whose side is this film on? And let’s be honest. In a film about an Indian spy who sneaks into Pakistan and marries into an army family to steal state secrets, taking sides is important.
Interestingly, director Meghna Gulzar’s father, the great Gulzar, had been offered the same script to direct several years before by a different producer. But Gulzar Saab had bid farewell to his career as a director. After Hu-tu-tu in 1999, he never looked back.
Raazi was to be shot in Kashmir. But then the unrest took over, and the venue had to be shifted to Film City in Mumbai. Alia Bhatt, who had shot earlier in Kashmir for Highway and had visited the Valley again, was disappointed as she considers Kashmir to be the most beautiful location on earth. She says she would any day pack her bags and run to Kashmir for a holiday or a shooting.
Patiala masqueraded as Pakistan in Raazi. No Indian film in living memory has been given permission to shoot in Pakistan. Raazi was a big turning point for Alia Bhatt’s career.
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In an interview with this writer after the release of Raazi, Alia said, “I can’t be objective about my own work. This film is different from my others in that it has a certain suspense element. All of us associated with the film knew what the surprise element was. So I was looking at the responses of my guests to see how they reacted to the surprise element. And it was all very heartening, very encouraging.”
Among the multitudinous pleasures of doing Raazi, Alia got to work with her mother, actress Soni Razdan, for the first time. “It was as though she had come visiting me on the sets and decided to join me in front of the camera. We were very professional in front of the camera. And like any mother and daughter, when it was off. Sadly, it was mostly work, work, work. We hardly got any time to hang around together.”
Raazi was Alia’s first political film. She played the selfless woman, ready to die for her country. Do such people really exist any more? Alia thought they did. “That’s how civilisation moves forward. It is true that self-preservation is the first instinct of every human being. Would anyone put the country before one’s own life, the way Sehmat does on Raazi? Yes, of course! What about the jawans who put their lives in danger to protect the country? So yeah, I think it isn’t impossible to have that level of selflessness even in today’s day and age, provided there is the right impetus to look beyond yourself. And Sehmat finds that impetus.”
For Raazi, Alia undertook tremendous preparation. “I set aside a month before shooting. I cleaned up my Urdu language. I learnt how to drive a Jonga (a jeep used by the Indian army). I learnt some self-defence moves plus some techniques that spies have to learn before they are on their job. It was a lot of hard work and fun. But I think no amount of preparation can really prepare you for that moment when you finally face the camera. I prefer going into my character without polishing her flaws and imperfections. I don’t want to be this shining diamond on screen. I like to show the vulnerable, unpolished side of my character.”
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