“If there is heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here,” said Amir Khusrao, while describing Kashmir. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s latest film, The Kashmir Files, has surprised one and all. The response has been unprecedented as it has already collected Rs 60 crore at the box-office in just five days. Majority of its shows across the country have been housefull, with the number of screens increasing by the day.
The Valley has always inspired Indian filmmakers to make films on the issue or have it as a backdrop. Here’s looking at films that have been shot in Kashmir.
Raazi
Set in 1971, Raazi is directed by Meghna Gulzar and featured Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kasuhal in the lead. An adaptation of Lt Commander (retd) Harinder S Sikka’s novel Calling Sehmat, the film is on a Kashmiri girl of mixed Sikh-Muslim parentage who gets married into a high-ranking Pakistani military family, so as to spy for India.
Shikara
Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shikara was a love story of a Kashmiri pandit couple during the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. The film starred Aadil Khan and Sadia Khateeb. The film was partly inspired by Our Moon Has Blood Clots by Rahul Pandita.
Notebook
Adapted by screenwriter Darab Farooqui from Teacher’s Diary, Thailand’s official entry for the Oscars in 2014, Notebook transports the original tale from a rural school to a remote location in the Valley, where a small institution floating in a lake is on the verge of being shut because it does not have a teacher. The handful of students who once attended the school are at a loose end. An ex-soldier, Kabir Kaul (Iqbal), a Kashmiri Pandit nursing the guilt of having failed to save a boy from a landmine, arrives to fill the breach.
Hamid
Set against the backdrop of the Kashmir conflict, the Aijaz Khan directorial is an adaptation of Amin Bhat’s play Phone No. 786. The film is a poignant tale told through the perspective of a child, who, upon losing his father, is determined to negotiate with Allah and bring him back.
Fitoor
Starring Tabu, Katrina Kaif and Aditya Roy Kapur, Fitoor, directed by Abhishek Kapoor, is a classic romance tale based on Dickens’ Great Expectations. The film revolves around a 13-yr-old Kashmiri boy, Noor, who gets hired by a Begum as a stable boy. He begins to fall in love with the Begum’s daughter, Firdaus. Of course, the Begum is not happy with that due to social disparity and she sends off Firdaus abroad. The music by Amit Trivedi was the biggest highlight of the film.
Haider
Set in 1995 Kashmir, Haider is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night. Amidst widespread civil & criminal conflict, the story revolves around Haider, a student, and a poet, who returns to Kashmir to find out the truth about his father’s disappearance. Directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, the film had some of the finest performances by Kay Kay Menon, Shahid Kapoor, Tabu and Irrfan Khan.
Valley of Saints
Musa Syeed’s directorial debut is a romantic film set in Dal lake, Srinagar. The film which was a winner at the 2012 Sundance film festival takes us through the journey of Gulzar, who is a local boatman planning to escape from Kashmir but has to drop the plan due to the military crackdown.A scientist, Asifa, visits the lake to research on its pollution levels. Sparks fly between this odd duo as Gulzar faces a life-altering dilemma.
Inshallah, Kashmir
Inshallah, Kashmir is the National Award winning 2012 documentary film directed, produced and written by Ashvin Kumar. It is the story of contemporary Kashmir. A series of counterpointed testimonies, the heartbreaking coming-of-age of ordinary people; warped and brutalised by two decades of militancy and its terrible response.
Tahaan
Directed by Santosh Sivan, the film follows the journey of a little boy whose donkey goes missing, leading him to take upon a journey into the hills to find the creature. The film featured Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher and Victor Banerjee among others.
Yahaan
A love story set in the strife-torn Kashmir, Yahaan marked Shoojit Sircar’s directorial debut. In Yahaan, Kashmiri Muslim woman Adaa (Minissha Lamba) and a Hindu man Aman (Jimmy Shergill) fall in love. But their relationship has its own hurdles to cross as Aman belongs to the Indian Army and Adaa’s brother Shakeel is involved with terrorists seeking to separate Kashmir from India.
Mission Kashmir
Directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the action drama had an enesemble of Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta. Set against the backdrop of Kashmiri insurgency, the story revolves around Altaaf, who loses his entire family as a young kid as a result of police firing but gets adopted by the very police chief responsible for the massacre.When he grows up, the unresolved childhood issues eventually crop up and as he figures out the details of the massacre, the consequences are conflicting & drastic.
Roja
Directed by Mani Ratnam, the film follows the trajectory of a woman from Tamil Nadu, who tries to find her husband, who gets abducted by Kashmiri militants during an undercover mission. Thematically, the film revolves around the relationship between Savitri and Satyavan of the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. Featuring Arvind Swami and Madhoo, the film also marked music maestro A. R. Rahman’s cinematic debut. It was critically well received and went on to win several awards, most notably three National Awards including the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.
Laila Majnu
Taking the leap out of classic folklore of star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun, the story is set in today’s time in Kashmir where Laila and Majnu have problems relevant to the youth of today. While dealing with their feuding families a passionate love story unravels. Starring Avinash Tiwary and Tripti Dimri, it is presented by Imtiaz Ali and co-produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Preety Ali. The film was directed by Sajid Ali.
