The polarisation in the last five years has taken people further away from a nuanced understanding of the complex issue of Kashmir, which is one of the very few places in the world where beauty and dismay exist in the same moment, two-time National Award winning filmmaker Ashvin Kumar has said.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s new, much-talked about movie”No Fathers in Kashmir” was screened here Friday night to inauguratethe 14th Habitat Film Festival, a 10-day cinematic carnival which will showcase42 feature films in 19 Indian language and 45 critically acclaimed films underthe documentaries, shorts and student film segments.
Kumar’s new movie is his first feature film on Kashmir, theprevious two being documentaries “Inshallah Football” (2010) and”Inshallah Kashmir” (2012) – both won National Film Awards.
“The polarisation that we have seen in our society inthe last five years has taken us further and further away from a nuancedunderstanding of complexity in general and in particular in the context ofKashmir,” Kumar said.
“It (Kashmir) is one of the very few places in theworld where beauty and dismay exist in the same moment. So the idea was to capturethat,” he said in response to the question on what prompted him to makethe film.
The 46-year-old filmmaker said his intention was to make alove story and capture the essence of how the exuberance of first love andheartbreak can be deeply problematic in a place like Kashmir.
“Kashmir is a dark mirror image of what happens whenyou allow the State to enter your private life. One of the human rightsactivists I met there told me that ‘we are a testing laboratory for you guys’.I was taken aback by the chill of that remark, but it is true. Kashmir is acase in point how bad things can get,” he said.
“Kashmir is a crisis of compassion. It is not power,the armed forces or even politics that kill civilisations. Civilisations diebecause of apathy. We are at a very critical time in our country. We areentering a very difficult phase from hereafter. It takes a great deal ofcourage to stand up and speak and I take my hat off to anyone who doesit,” he said.
Kumar also deliberated on the difficulties he facedreleasing the film. He said it was only after six screenings , seven hearingsand nine months of agonising wait that his new production finally made it tothe screens.”It was not an easy film to program. It isa significant act of courage to put this movie up… We had a very difficult timereleasing the film. It was one of the darkest periods of my life. It took ninemonths for the Censor Board to give us a clearance. And the movie wasmutilated,” he said.