Oh, Kashmir!

For over three decades, India's own paradise on Earth has been in turmoil. Here are the best Kashmir-inspired films, pre- and post 370 abrogation

Oh, Kashmir!

Real Kashmir FC

This documentary on the football team, Real Kashmir FC, bagged the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2019 and is based on former Aberdeen, Rangers and Leeds United ace David Robertson who has left behind his wife and his millionaire lifestyle to live in a shared house in Kashmir.

It's a story of hope, dreams, and living and working in a conflict zone.

Watch it on: www.bbc.co.uk

Hamid

Ironic as it was, when Talha Arshad Reshi, 8, won the National Award for best child artiste for his role in Hamid in August 2019, he didn't know of it due to the lockdown on communication after the Centre revoked J&K's special status. Adapted from the play, Phone No 786, the film is a tale of a child's attempt to dial God, so that he can convince him to send his missing father back.

Watch it on: Netflix

Raqs-e-Inquilab (Art in a Time of Conflict)

This docu shows how, for many in the Valley, conflict, visions of curfew, military presence and disappearances are so much a part of everyday life that it has become an inevitable part of their artworks. When filmmakers Niyantha Shekar and Mukti Krishan came across an article about Hina Arif, a Kashmiri artist who drew and shared on Instagram images of victims of conflict, they knew the subject of their next film. "We got in touch with her with the intention of making a short docu but as we met more artists in Kashmir, we realised that we could make one that incorporated multiple voices," says Shekar.

Watch it on: YouTube and Vimeo

No Fathers in Kashmir

This English feature film is about the struggles of Kashmiris living amidst the conflict—torn between the militants and the armed forces. While the movie has highlighted several lesser known pain points of children and women of Kashmir, it did lose out on portraying some pressing emotional aspect of kids in the valley whose fathers go missing. However, for Oscar-nominated director Ashvin Kumar, the script was the hardest he had attempted as it involves the telling of a story of innocence against the backdrop of war.

Watch it on: To be released digitally soon

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