Alia Bhatt - starrer Raazi is winning hearts all over the country for the brilliant storyline and of course, Alia's performance is the cherry on the cake. But did you know that the real Sehmat, was alive until April 2018? Harinder Sikka's novel, 'Calling Sehmat' is based on a real-life spy, Sehmat, who unfortunately died last month. Talking about her, Sikka was quoted by The Quint saying, “When Kargil war took place, I went to the Kargil Battle theatre as an embedded journalist. I was cursing the people, ‘How have you allowed the enemy to sit on our heads and without us knowing. And now we are losing lives because of Intelligence (failure)’. It is then that somebody stood up and said, ‘Not everybody is a traitor, my mother wasn’t.’”

Speaking about his first-ever conversation with her, he further explained, “I knocked at her door, she opened it, and I said I’m so-and-so. I used my rank (Lieutenant Commander) as well. Very politely, but very firmly, she said, ‘I don’t want to discuss’ and went inside. Before going in she said sorry and then she shut the door. I sat outside with a bottle of water in my hand. At about 4:45 pm, she opened the door again and saw me sitting outside. She said, ‘Please come in.’ And that is when she spoke in bits and pieces. "Sehmat’s story matched the Indian intelligence’s story. I was in the navy so I knew what had happened on Vikrant. How did Indian Navy know that PNS Ghazi was sitting off Vishakhapatnam? Who transferred that information? Somebody was passing them information. That somebody is Sehmat,” he added further.

As far as Alia is concerned, for those who have watched the film would agree that she fits the character seemingly well. The 25-year-old actress earlier told Filmfare, “I was going through a unique time when I started shooting for Raazi. It was a new lonesome period. I had begun to enjoy my solitude. I kind of detached myself from the world. So much that I would leave my phone behind in my van. The film gave me a lot of silence and time with myself, which helped me grow.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 21, 2018 09:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).