Viewers have been revisiting the tragedy that occurred nearly three decades ago through the film. However, even before the Agnihotri directorial, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit sought to address the subject through a romance drama in his film Sheen.

Pandit’s film is set against the backdrop of the exodus of lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits during the peak of the insurgency in the state, in 1990. It follows a couple who becomes victim of the horrific event. 

The 2004 film, which starred Raj Babbar, Tarun Arora, and Samreen Zaidi as the main characters, may not have gone into great depth about the events, but it did touch on the subject.

Besides the lead pair, Babbar plays the role of Pandit Amarnath, who is Sheen’s father and Anup Soni features as one of the militants.  

Raj Babbar discussed the film’s premise in an old interview released by Wild Films India, saying that the plot centres around people being compelled to live as refugees in their own nation.

The director of Sheen, Ashoke Pandit also spoke to Lehren TV in an interview, while shooting for the project, where he talked about his agenda behind bringing forth a story like that. 

It’s a love story, based on the background of the exodus of Kashmir Pandits from Kashmir. Issue-based film hai. Maine puri koshish ki hai ki isko ek aisi film banau jo ki issue-based hote hue bhi, logon ka interest bandh ke rakhe aur ek issue ke baare me unko sochne pe majbur kare.   

Watch the interview here: 

You can checkout the full-length film on YouTube.