Kashmiris amidst the conflict have learnt to stand up against atrocities and injustice. With time, youth of Kashmir have started focusing more on career opportunities in little known fields like journalism, film making and other such sectors.
Aim of government jobs has mostly been a priority here, but the youngsters have found other ways to not only earn bread and butter but also showcase the ground reality of Kashmir through film making.
“We have suffered a lot during the last 25 years but now we are a little away from that gruesome reality. It gives us time to construct a new narrative through various forms of art. Films can be a wonderful art form in this regard,” says Finance& Culture Minister Haseeb Drabu.
The richness of talent in Kashmir can be exampled by a film based on a child’s story of being handicapped and losing friends to explosives left in fields. This film produced by a group of Kashmiri boys touched many hearts at two-day International Kashmir Moving Images Film Festival held in Srinagar last month.
What actually touched the hearts of many people was ‘Dark Meadows’, the five-minute movie screened at Tagore Park on the second day of the festival on October 30. The movie depicted how Kashmiri children are becoming victims of littered explosives.
Mastered by a local filmmaker Afzal Sofi, a teacher at the journalism department of Baramulla College in north Kashmir, produced the movie with the help of city-based production house ‘Dream7’, seemed to be happy as he could draw the message across.
What is Dream 7
‘Dream7’ constitutes a team of seven friends who made ‘Dark Meadows’ a success. Dream7 is not limited only to this cause based film but had earlier produced a short film ‘Trashbin’ based on environmental issue.
‘Trashbin’ was listed among top ten movies in the fifteen- day Kala Ghoda film festival in Mumbai last year.
‘Dream7’ is among one of the talent packets of Kashmir constituting of seven people who actually are friends. All of them are in their 20s– Sajad Bhat, Ishaq Bhat, Arif Bashir Wani, Aejaz Ganie, Nadeem shah, Waseem Abdullah, Aamir Ashraf Gujri.
They all were reporters in local newspapers till 2013.
All the seven friends had a dream to become filmmakers. And one chance came to them in October 2013, which they didn’t miss.
Film Division of India (FDI) called for aspiring filmmakers. The seven friends collaborated to submit five scripts to the premier film regulatory body. Two of their scripts were subsequently selected by the authority from 3,000 scripts received from all over India.
After they formally launched the production house in 2014, they got a call from FDI for first pitching of the scripts in New Delhi. “Second pitching will be held in Mumbai and we are waiting for the call,” says Sajad.
A year on, Sajad Bhat, Director Dream 7, calls it a ‘skeptic but enthusiastic start’. “Anything can be accomplished with a small and motivated team,” he adds.
They started from scratch
For ‘Dream7’, the start was not easy; they had no money, no support and not even encouragement from anyside. They even didn’t have an office to fix things. So they used to assemble at Pratap Park– in the city centre Lal Chowk. The open Partap park which remains mostly filled with love birds, remained their office for a long time.
After few months, they acquired some space after earning money from their work, in Auqaf Building in the same area.
They left their respective jobs to make the film successful.
“It was a hard choice to leave a job which fetched me Rs 20,000 a month, and then enter into a phase of nothingness. Friends were all against it but today it has proven to be a right one,” explains co-founder Arif.
Efforts never die and with other good members around fetched them the results… they have assisted in two advertising films — ‘Incredible Kashmir’ and one with Tata Sky.
Besides, they have also line-produced ads of Hero Honda Splendor Pro-classic and Hero Honda Hamari Pari CSR.
Their production house is working on five new projects.
They want sponsors to develop film making in the valley.
“It is never easy to survive in a market which is hostile to such endeavors with empty pockets. We invested from our own pockets and we are still doing that. But today, we earn good and still have a long way to go,” says Mudassir, a team member.
Lack of support and sponsorship, says Sajad, is the biggest hurdle. “But we want to give a message that people should come forward and contribute in movie-making from Kashmir,” he sums up.
(The article was first appeared in iamin.in)