‘Man from Shah Rukh Khan’s company said we won’t let you work in Mumbai’, claims Raazi writer | Bollywood News

5 min readNew DelhiJul 21, 2026 05:47 PM Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi is considered to be one of the finest performances of the actor but in the last few years, the author of the book Calling Sehmat, that served as an inspiration for the film, has raised objections to the film. Harinder Singh Sikka, who wrote the book, recently claimed that Gulzar pleaded with him to hire Meghna Gulzar as “she hadn’t gotten any work for four years.” He also claimed that an individual, who claimed to be a representative of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, threatened him saying that he won’t be able to work in the film industry after Sikka refused to give him the book rights.
‘Gulzar pleaded with me to give work to Meghna Gulzar’
In a chat with YouTube channel Desimartini, Sikka said that he met Gulzar in 2016-2017. “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 Vishal Bhardwaj. So give her some work’. I said, ‘I will do it. It’s a promise’,” he claimed. Before Raazi, Meghna had directed Filhaal and Just Married, along with a short segment in the anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan. Sikka said that when he later met Vishal and asked him about the same, he was told, “Vishal said, ‘I am like Gulzar’s son. That statement said everything’.”
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Sikka said that while giving the rights for Calling Sehmat he had a few conditions, which included that he would be selecting the director and the lead cast for the film. He said that Junglee Pictures approached him and agreed to the conditions “with a heavy heart.” “And that is how Meghna Gulzar became the director of this project,” he said.
‘They painted the Pakani army as soft in Raazi’
Sikka claimed that Meghna addressed him as ‘uncle’ throughout the filming but as soon as she wrapped up the film, she allegedly sent him a message where she said, “I don’t want to call you uncle anymore. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” He claimed that Meghna made many changes while adapting the film to the screen and pointed out the changes that he did not approve.
“As per the book, when Sehmat came back, she was welcomed 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 make fighting for India. There was no tricolour in the film but there were so many Pakani flags,” he said and added, “They painted the Pakani army as soft and questioned IB.”
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Sikka claimed that he called Gulzar after the release in 2018 and also accused him of delaying the release of his book. He added, “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.” “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.
Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment wanted to make Calling Sehmat
In the same chat, Sikka claimed that back in 2008, an individual named Samar Khan, who claimed to be a director at Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, came to see him for the rights of Calling Sehmat. Sikka had then quoted Rs 1.5 crore for the book rights, and placed his other conditions about selecting the director and the cast, which, apparently, shocked Samar. “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 said that he had a friend named Major Chibba and when he shared his grievance with him, the matter was eventually resolved. “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’.”
In March, Sikka had said that it was his “gravest misjudgement” to let Meghna direct the film. Over the years, despite many attacks Sikka, neither Meghna Gulzar or Gulzar have responded to his comments.Story continues below this ad
Raazi, directed Meghna, starred Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in lead roles. The film was produced Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions.