Deepa Dhanraj’s 1986 documentary Kya Hua Is Shahar Ko? examines communal violence in Hyderabad in 1984. In a 2014 review, Nandini Ramnath argued that its account of political maneuvering and communal rhetoric felt depressingly familiar in light of violence in East Delhi. That is a comparison about recurring political dynamics—not a claim that the events were identical.
What the documentary records
Kya Hua Is Shahar Ko?—also rendered as Kya Hua Is Sheher Ko? and translated by the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art as What Has Happened to This City?—is an Indian documentary directed by Deepa Dhanraj. It focuses on Hindu-Muslim riots in Hyderabad in 1984 and was made in 1986. Arsenal lists its runtime as 95 minutes (Arsenal film listing).
Ramnath describes a film attentive both to the immediate experience of violence and to the political forces around it. It includes interviews with victims, police officials and politicians, while examining political maneuvering, communal suspicion and religious processions. Its account also attends to what violence and curfew meant for poor and working-class residents.
Why Ramnath connected it to East Delhi
In her November 4, 2014, Scroll.in article, Ramnath’s comparison turns on patterns of political practice: the use of communal suspicion, leaders’ rhetoric, the relationship between religious processions and mobilization, and the consequences borne by residents. The force of the comparison is that these dynamics can recur—not that Hyderabad in 1984 and East Delhi are interchangeable events.
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Dhanraj put the film’s continuing relevance this way, as quoted by Ramnath: “The film remains relevant because it shows how communal politics is practised by every political party.” The statement makes the film an examination of political conduct rather than a simple account of one moment or one party.
How the film was made and later restored
Ramnath reports that Dhanraj and cinematographer Navroze Contractor were involved with Hyderabad Ekta, an inter-faith harmony group formed after an earlier riot in 1978. They filmed through the 1984 riot. The documentary was released in 1986, after a year of editing and a year awaiting certification, according to Ramnath’s account.
Arsenal records that the film was digitally restored, screened again as part of the Berlinale Forum in 2013, and later released on DVD. Its catalog lists Hindi audio, English subtitles, a code-free region, a 24-page English booklet and 70 minutes of bonus interviews, in addition to the 95-minute film (Arsenal film listing).
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What to take from the comparison
The documentary’s value lies in the way it brings political language and mobilization into view alongside the lived effects of violence and curfew. Ramnath’s East Delhi framing asks viewers to recognize familiar political dynamics across different episodes while keeping their histories distinct. The film’s title—“What Has Happened to This City?”—is also a question about what communal politics does to the people who have to live through its consequences.
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