Lamhaa (Hindi: लम्हा, translation: Moment) is a Bollywood action thriller film written and directed by Rahul Dholakia, released on 16 July 2010. Set in Kashmir, the film is a story about an army officer, played by Sanjay Dutt, and his love interest, played by Bipasha Basu, in the midst of the various issues that Kashmir had faced over the years. It also features Anupam Kher and Kunal Kapoor in supporting roles.

Cast [link]

• Sanjay Dutt as Vikram
• Bipasha Basu as Aziza
• Kunal Kapoor as Aatif
• Shernaz Patel as Parveena
• Aman Verma
• Yashpal Sharma as Rauf
• Vishwajeet Pradhan as Daljeet
• Vipin Sharma as Colonel Kapoor
• Yuri Suri as Pasha
• Anupam Kher as Haji
• Asif Basra
• Rajesh Khera as Parvez
• Murli Sharma as Dhruv Raina
• Jyoti Dogra as Badi Bi
• Denzil Smith as Brigadier Sharma
• Ehsaan Khan as S P Khan
• Mahesh Manjrekar as Peer Baba
• Harry Josh
• Vineet Sharma

Production [link]

Casting [link]

Karisma Kapoor was finalized to play the female lead in the film, but she opted out at the last minute because she feared shooting in the troubled Kashmir valley where a significant part of the film was going to be shot. Bipasha Basu, Ameesha Patel and Sonam Kapoor were considered for the same role, but Basu was eventually finalized to play the female lead.^[2]

Filming and post-production [link]

Filming began in Kashmir on October 25, 2008.^[3] During November 2008, Bipasha Basu left the shooting of the film hours before Sanjay Dutt landed in Srinagar to start shooting with her but she left without informing the unit.^[4] They then decided to shoot the action sequences in Manali instead.^[5] After Basu's abrupt departure, producer Bunty Walia and director Rahul Dholakia asked Basu to arrive on the set on January 4, 2009 and that they would cast Vidya Balan as a replacement in case she does not comply.^[6] Basu then arrived on the specified date after security arrangements were tightened and explained that she got scared in Kashmir after the crowd gathering became uncontrollable.^[7][8] During May 2009, Rahul Dholakia collapsed on the sets and shooting was delayed up to 25 May after doctors advised Dholakia bed rest for one month.^[9]

Critical reception [link]

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review-aggregation website, ReviewGang, the film scored 5.5/10 based on 9 reviews.^[10] Sukanya Verma of Rediff rated it 3/5 and said, "Utimately, Lamhaa's relevance lies in its ability to give you an overview, even if it's a crammed one, about the ugliness of greed and intolerance through the example of Kashmir".^[11] Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL rated it 3.5/5 and stated, "Very truly it does delve right into the primary problem. But this time, unlike most other movies made on the same subject, it does not stay on a superficial level."^[12] Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India rated it 3.5/5 saying, "Lamhaa is a no-holds-barred look at the multi-layered turmoil in Kashmir, with so many real-life references that you end up with just one conclusion: now here's a real film about a real problem".^[13] Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times rated it 2/5 and said, "It's not easy to make sense of Kashmir. It's harder still then to make sense of this film".^[14]

Soundtrack [link]

The music of the film is given by Mithoon with lyrics by Sayeed Quadri and Amitabh Varma.^[15]

Track listing [link]

Controversy [link]

Lamhaa was banned in GCC countries i.e. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Oman. UAE National Media Council Censorship Board felt that the content of the movie is highly objectionable and controversial.^[16]

Earlier, the film's screening was cancelled in Kashmir^[17] amid the tense atmosphere.^[18] The producer didn't want to be insensitive to the sentiments of the Kashmiri people. The producer, Walia commented, "There are no scenes that they want me to remove from the film. They have outrightly refused to screen Lamhaa. [...] This news has really dampened my spirits. The Middle East is a huge market for Bollywood movies these days and we could suffer a huge setback because of this ban. There is definitely a lot of money at stake that could have been recovered from that region, but more than that I am sad that the audience there can't see a film like 'Lamhaa'".^[19] The Indian censor board passed the movie with an A certificate after two edits were made.^[20]

References [link]

External links [link]

• Official website
• Lamhaa at the Internet Movie Database