A few months ago, thespian Purva Naresh was travelling through Kashmir to research for a play. In her conversations with the locals there, she often asked them who the most enduring character from Kashmiri folklore is. The unanimous answer was, Habba Khatoon. She asked them who their favourite Kashmiri poet is. Again, the answer was Habba Khatoon. In fact, there were many people who, once they realised that Naresh was a playwright and director, urged her take up Khatoon as a subject. But at that point in time, the Mumbaikar thought, "How can I tell the tale of this 16th century poet who belongs entirely to Kashmir? What agency do I have to tackle her story?" So she kept the idea on the backburner, and returned to the other play she was researching for.

But then, there was another question that Naresh grappled with around the time that Article 370 was abrogated — what is the role of an artiste in times of conflict? She tells us, "I realised that Habba Khatoon really strikes a chord with Kashmiris from all walks of life. She really binds the people there together. So I asked myself, how does she become important to us [at such a fractious time in the state's history]? And I realised that here we have a peasant girl from the 16th century who married into nobility, dealing with class conflicts while doing so. Plus, she also raised questions about the role of an artiste within the state since, being a poet married to a king, she had to deal with the paradox of a liberal married to an administrator who is a lot more conformist."