The Kashmir conundrum

Pankaj butalia on the textures of loss Pankaj Butalia who has directed several critically acclaimed documentaries including Moksha which was based on the widows of Vrindavan has now brought forward the tragedies and violence faced by the people of Kashmir in his newu00a0documentary The Textures Of Loss ldquoI started a film in 2005 on Manipur Manipur Song and while shooting that I decided to make one on Kashmir as well This film brings forth the impact of the conflict on the psyche thinking and lifestyle of the people of Kashmirrdquo explains Butalia who while shooting realised the difference between the conflicts of Manipur and Kashmir He reveals that while the vibe in Manipur is combative in Kashmir itrsquos that of resignation A still from the documentary The Textures Of Loss Butalia shot extensively between 20052007 but then had to cease the shoot owing to lack of funds and for two years the film was in doldrums ldquoThen the stone pelting incident happened in Kashmir which I thought had to be covered in the film So I went back and met families of people who were killed during those incidents to incorporate their ordealrdquo he informs Although Butalia is not from the state and doesnrsquot understand the language he didnrsquot let these factors pose as impediments ldquoIf you talk to people let them say what they want to explain to them about your work and build trust eventually they will open up Obviously you cannot arrive and start rolling You need to work on trust otherwise even if they speak to you it will be on a superficial levelrdquo he advises Pankaj Butalia However there was a time when Butalia was at the receiving end ldquoWhat struck me while shooting in Kashmir was that the Army convoy when on the road is always the king When Army trucks pass no one else is supposed to come in between Their presence can be overwhelming even scary I wanted to capture that sentiment in the filmrdquo he reveals Adding the filmmaker shares that there was a day when he saw an Army convoy passing by Each truck had a marksman to check if anyone or anything suspicious is around as they pass Hence one needs to be extra careful with the placement of the camera because if it looks like a gun from a distance you can land in trouble ldquoSo I kept trying different situations to grab footage Finally I I was able to capture the convoy But my camera was spotted and soon I was surrounded by the Armyrdquo As a result Butalia had to delete a major chunk of that footage but he managed to retain about 20 seconds of it which is shown in the film Ashvin kumar on the inshallah series Laurels donrsquot rest easy neither does pedigree he is the son of fashion designer Ritu Kumar Fervid articulate and driven Ashvin Kumar has been in the news for his second consecutive win at the National Awards The nomination for the 2004 Academy Awards for his short film The Little Terrorist didnrsquot jade his strife to alleviate oppression He shares his insight about his twopart documentary series Inshallah Football 2010 and Inshallah Kashmir 2012 A still from Inshallah Kashmir the second of the Inshallah series He shares ldquoI was in Kashmir in 2009 with my written script The moment I landed I realised that it had to be trashcanned Soon I stumbled upon the story of this coach Juan Marcos Troia who was training kids among which one couldnrsquot obtain a visa as his father was a muchwanted leader of a militant group As I was covering the protagonist we saw that there was much beyond this Finally I had 300 hours of footage but as Inshallah Football was related to the protagonist it couldnrsquot be usedrdquo On the Kashmir issue he comments ldquoI am dismayed by the current condition I am a patriotic Indian as much as anyone who shouts from the rooftop But my patriotism comes from shamerdquo Kumar calls attention to the present empowered position of the Armed Forces that has led to them almost dictating policies on Kashmir Impassioned he utters ldquoWe havenrsquot given Kashmir its birth right We suppress those who come out of Kashmir and want to discuss their story There is no democracy people live under stressrdquo When asked about how he was able to shoot these candid interviews of Inshallah Kashmir his tenor abates ldquoWe were followed aroundrdquo Intrigued about the sources of sensitive information the muted stance was ominous He asserts that mainstream media neglects the true portrayal To avoid his previous bouts with the censors Kumar released the film online on January 26 ldquoIrsquom more interested in the youth who browse online today We should cultivate empathy so you can say that if this cannot happen in Delhi how can it happen in Srinagarrdquo he asks u00a0