An Imam in the Indian-held state of Kashmir, who appeared in a small role in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kashmir-set film ‘Haider’, claimed he was tricked into performing a ‘nikkah’ scene in the Bollywood film and has now sent a legal notice to the director, co-producer and co-writer Vishal Bhardwaj, demanding an apology and Rs 50 lakh in compensation.
Ghulam Hassan Shah was sacked by the management committee of the mosque for appearing in the movie. Shah, a resident of Qazigund in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, had been leading the prayers at a mosque in Nowhatta area of the city for the past eight years.
“The management committee of the mosque sacked me… I was tricked as I was told that the footage will be used for educational purposes. I did not know that it was being used in the movie,” Shah told Indian media.
The 65-year-old man has engaged a lawyer and sent a legal notice to Bhardwaj.
The notice asks Bhardwaj, 49, to publish an apology in the “national press on at least three occasions if the facts stated in the legal notice are accurate”.
The notice also demands Bhardwaj to pay Rs 50 lakh in damages to Shah.
‘Haider’, starring Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon and based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Hamlet’, is set amidst the early days of militancy in Kashmir. The film was released on October 2 last year.