Shahzad Hussain Hamdani
The valley of Kashmir has always been a famous spot for bollywood crews since 1980’s. During those times it used to be the tranquility of the valley which prompted films industries to come and shoot. The valley has hosted many leading movies and many leading Film makers have started their career from the valley of Kashmir. Films like Betaab, Kashmir ki kali, Silsila, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Jungleeand many others are still tagged with the valley from years now.
With the start of Kashmir unrest, the Films crews found it difficult to shoot in the valley and soon they started to shift towards places like Switzerland. Many such Film makers termed the shifting with the unrest in the valley, but the reality was that the hospitality of the people in the valley was still the same. They still wanted the so called Film Makers to come and shoot in the Valley.
Many analysts have termed the shifting of Film Industries away from the valley a big loss to the tourism Industry of the Valley. Nevertheless the people of the valley still believed that one day they will turn back to Kashmir. One day the smile will be back on the faces of the ShikaraWalas and one day the glory will shine again.
This deep hope among the people of Kashmir took almost more than two decades to come true and soon film Industries announced its shifting back to Kashmir. The smile on the faces of the Shikarawalas, and every person of the valley was now much visible.
It was in the year 1999, when the Industry came to shoot its film “Mission Kashmir” which was based on the prevailing turmoil in Valley.
This film was looked by the people more than a mission of sending peace signals to the rest of India, spreading the message that the people of this valley are still hospitable and supportive, regardless of the fact how many of them lost their dear ones; regardless of the fact how many innocents died in the hands of the forces.
Soon after the Film got released in 2000, the smiles on the faces of the people started to fade. The film had shown a face of Kashmir with guns. The Dal Lake was not shown with its beauty, but as an operation centre of the Militants. A police officer who was shown killing the innocents in an encounter was later the hero of the film and those who lost their dear ones were all terrorists.
The film was not Mission Kashmir but was more than Defaming Kashmir and Kashmiris. Soon after it, the people agitated over the things which were shown about Kashmir.
Since 2000, the system of projecting a negative side of Kashmir continues with films like Lamhaa, Jab tak hain Jaan and many others have shown the killers of innocents as the real heroes, leaving behind the wounds unhealed.
The recent script of Production houses coming to Kashmir present a different scenario of shooting in the valley which is far away from the way it used to be in 80’s. The present films on Kashmir are seen more than propaganda to show the bad about Kashmir and which is far from the reality.
Recently the Valley-based tourism players came down heavily on a Bollywood production house for portraying Gulmarg as ‘Manali’ in the recently released film ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, terming it as “fraud” and “breach of trust.” Surprisingly, the producers of YJHD have mentioned Gulmarg as Manali in the credit lines of the film.
The YJHD which was recently shot in the picturesque locales of Gulmarg and Pahalgam does not make a single mention of these places which has left even the Chief Minister of the state, Omar Abdullah fuming.
“It’s irritating when we roll out the red carpet & facilitate the shoot only to have people believe its Manali,” Omar wrote on the micro-blogging site twitter.
“Those of you planning to visit Manali because of what you saw in YJHD you should know except for the Temple & Span resort its all Gulmarg,” the chief minister wrote.
While the Tourism players suggested that it should be made mandatory for the production houses coming to Kashmir to sign an agreement with the state government, the Crews coming from Mumbai have still taken the things for granted. While the people of the valley welcome film crews to shoot in Kashmir, many such crews have recently tried to bring a different picture of Kashmir. Instead of promoting the beauty these production houses are promoting a different scenario of 2013. The recent example is of a Serial Named as “Do Dil ek Jaan” by BAG and Nautanki Telefilms Production. The said serial was shot in the valley and later it is now telecasted on a satellite Channel “LifeOK”. The serial has shown the present scenario of Kashmir in a negative manner. The worst part of this serial is that they have shown a different face of the Valley which is far from reality. At the time of its shoot, many people from the valley had objected to a certain part of the script which they had termed as completely manipulated and objectionable. The said Production house had committed that before its telecast, every objectionable material shall be removed.
After its release on 3rd June 2013, the said production house committed a breach of promise with the people of the valley. The serial has started with a Group of girls performing a song at Pari Mahal surrounded by security forces. The serial has further shown a Fatwa being issued by a Molvi, the surprising part is that the Fatwa has been Issued against a Kashmiri Pandit Family (Named as Kaul Family) shown to be residing near Nishat.
The serial has also shown the way the Muslims are suppressing the Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. This whole scenario has been termed in the serial that of 2013. While on one side the authorities and the people of the state are pushing hard to bring back the Pandit brothers and sisters, serial like these are prompting propaganda to defame the peace movement in Kashmir.
Such movie and serial crews are taking undue advantage of the hospitality and innocence of the people. These crews are in no way providing space for peace in the Valley but are now involving into agendas like disturbing the peace and brotherhood among faiths in Kashmir.
One thing which needs to be seen is the lack of responsibility on the authorities who without looking into the script provide them with shooting permissions. This act shows that the authorities in Kashmir only speak about peace and development, but in reality are playing an important part in providing space to such production houses coming from Mumbai, who later show a completely wrong picture of Kashmir.
Presently, the way production houses are coming up with the scripts in Kashmir, it is a high time for the authorities to check over these propagandas and also a serious concern for the people of the state to check that their hospitality is not taken for granted.