Alia
Bhatt's
Raazi:
Indian
SPY
Sehmat
Khan's
Real
Life
Story
|
FilmiBeat
The
book
on
which
Meghna
Gulzar's
espionage
drama
"Raazi"
is
based
will
hit
stores
around
the
same
time
when
the
film
releases
on
May
11.
Harinder
Sikka's
"Calling
Shemat"
is
the
story
of
an
ordinary
girl
who
becomes
a
spy
driven
by
the
desire
to
fulfill
her
father's
wishes
and
national
duty.
Though
the
book
was
published
some
years
ago,Penguin
Random
House
India
will
bring
it
out
in
a
repackaged
and
new
format.
Sikka
says
he
felt
very
strongly
that
Sehmat's
story
needed
to
be
told.
"Her
amazing
courage
and
fortitude
are
what
need
to
be
celebrated.
I'm
glad
that
the
film
and
the
book
are
coming
out
within
short
span
of
each
other
and
each
will
in
its
own
way
tell
this
exceptional
story,"
he
says.
When
young
college-going
Kashmiri
girl
Sehmat
gets
to
know
her
dying
father's
last
wish,
she
can
do
little
but
surrender
to
his
passion
and
patriotism
and
follow
the
path
he
has
so
painstakingly
laid
out.
It
is
the
beginning
of
her
transformation
from
an
ordinary
girl
into
a
deadly
spy.
She's
then
married
off
to
the
son
of
a
well-connected
Pakistani
general,
and
her
mission
is
to
regularly
pass
information
to
the
Indian
intelligence.
Something
she
does
with
extreme
courage
and
bravado,
till
she
stumbles
on
information
that
could
destroy
the
naval
might
of
her
country.
The
book
is
inspired
from
real
events.
"This
book
is
an
extraordinary
spy
story
that
talks
about
the
grit
and
determination
of
a
young
woman
to
save
her
country
(India)
during
the
1971
war
with
Pakistan,"
says
Vaishali
Mathur,
Executive
Editor
and
Head
Rights
and
Language
Publishing
at
Penguin
Random
House
India.
"It's
also
poignant
in
its
portrayal
of
the
characters
involved
in
the
war
showing
the
more
human
side
of
people
and
the
choices
they
make
-
proving
that
heroes
are
not
different
people
but
they
choose
to
do
things
differently,"
Mathur
adds.
Alia
Bhatt
is
playing
the
role
of
Sehmat
in
the
film
and
Vicky
Kaushal
her
husband.
Sikka
is
currently
the
group
director
(strategic
business)
of
Piramal
Group.
He
was
in
theIndian
Navy
but
took
premature
retirement
in
1993.
He
has
also
produced
the
film
"Nanak
Shah
Fakir".