[Reader-list] The Truth about Kashmir!

[Wali Arifi]

Here is some more to add to this post:

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20081105/914/ten-lamha-will-depict-kashmir-s-pain-say.html

'Lamha' will depict Kashmir's pain, says director Dholakia

Wed, Nov 5 07:29 PM

Srinagar, Nov 5 (IANS) Bollywood filmmaker Rahul Dholakia, Wednesday said
that his forthcoming movie 'Lamha' would depict the pain and suffering of
Kashmir even though it was essentially a love story.

'I will be hated outside after the release of 'Lamha'. It will depict
Kashmir's pain and suffering as I have seen during the two years of research
for my film," Dholakia told reporters here.

He said that his movie, which stars Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu and Anupam
Kher, would be a 'pro-Kashmir film'. The director added that he fully
understood the humiliation and the pain the locals suffered when
non-resident troopers asked them for identity proof.

"I have met a senior separatist leader and many people here and I have
assured them that my film will portray Kashmir in its true perspective.

"I have been to a village called Dardpora where hundreds of widows still
wait with photographs of their husbands and sons to return home. All that
will be there in my film," Dholakia said.

The shooting of Dholakia's film had run into rough weather here. Kashmiri
fruit traders last week intervened to stop the shooting at the fruit market
as they feared the movie might portray them in bad light.

On Monday, students of a college in south Kashmir's Anantnag district took
exception to some of the portions being shot inside the campus premises and
the principal then asked the film crew to withdraw.

On Wednesday too, the film's shoot was interrupted by a few people while
they were filming in uptown Maharaja Bazaar area.

Dholakia has earlier made the critically acclaimed film 'Parzania' about a
boy who went missing in the 2002 Gujarat communal violence.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2008/October/international_October2173.xml&section=international&col
=
 Kashmiri Fruit Traders Stop Movie Shoot
(IANS)

31 October 2008

SRINAGAR - Kashmiri fruit traders on Thursday intervened to stop the
shooting of director Rahul Dholakia's movie 'Lamha' in the states' summer
capital Srinagar fearing the film might portray them in a bad light.

"I was informed by my colleagues in the Parimpora fruit market that a film
unit had set up a shoot there today," Bashir Ahmad Bashir, the president of
the fruit market in Srinagar, told IANS.

"They were shooting some actor wearing a 'pheren' (traditional woollen
garment) wielding a gun during the shooting.

"I met the director, Dholakia, and asked him whether he had taken permission
from the local authorities and also from our association to shoot his film
inside the fruit market.

"After he failed to show us any permission, we politely told him to wind up
the shoot and they readily agreed to do so. We also requested them to delete
the parts of the film they had shot inside the fruit market today."

He also said their intervention had become necessary as the local traders
feared anything negative shown in a film about Kashmiri fruit traders would
affect the entire industry adversely.

Dholakia had earlier made the critically acclaimed film 'Parzania' about a
boy who went missing in the 2002 Gujarat communal violence.

When IANS contacted him about Thursday's incident, Dholakia said: "We had
sought permission from some shopkeepers in the fruit market for the shoot
who perhaps had not informed the office bearers of the fruit traders
association and that is why the hiccup occurred today." *-  IANS*

"Mine is a positive film about Kashmir and we are going ahead with the
shoot. These hiccups are part of filmmaking and I fully understand the
situation in Kashmir."

The director also said 'Lamha' was a love story. The film stars Sanjay Dutt
and Bipasha Basu.

"It is a commercial movie and there are no political overtones to it. Yes,
it talks of love in today's Kashmir," Dholakia told IANS here.

When asked about the pheren-wearing, weapon-wielding actor being part of the
shoot at the local fruit market, the director said: "He was a body guard and
not part of the actors in the film."

Fruit traders in the valley had suffered huge losses earlier this year as
the highway carrying their produce was blocked for days due to protests in
Jammu against cancellation of land for the Amarnath shrine board. -

---------------------------------------


On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 1:10 PM, Sanjay Kak <kaksanjay at gmail.com> wrote:

> For those on the Reader-list who have been waiting with bated breath for
> the
> truth about Kashmir, the moment may well be near.
> Bollywood's A list is all set to bring out the unvarnished truth.
> And they are giving it their best: Screen saver favourite Bipasha Basu will
> play Islamist Asiya Andrabi.
> Please read this story from the Srinagar based daily Rising Kashmir.
> http://www.risingkashmir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8133
>
> "Bipasha to play Asiya in Lamha"
>
> Rising Kashmir News
> Srinagar, Nov 4:
>
> Claiming that Sanjay Dutt, Kunal Kapoor and Bipasha Basu have pro-Kashmir
> sentiments, Bollywood Director Rahul Dholakia Wednesday said that the
> glamorous Bipasha will play Dukhtaran-e-Millat chairperson Asiya Andrabi in
> his film 'Lamha'.
> Addressing media persons here, Dholakia said that his film is entirely
> pro-Kashmir and it will depict the real aspirations of Kashmiri people.
> "This is a love story woven with boundless void of agony which Kashmiri
> people are facing for the past 61 years. Without the help of Kashmiri
> people
> I cannot do justice with my film," he said.
> Spewing his anger against the unbridled powers of troops, paramilitary
> forces and police in Kashmir, Dholakia said: "I may be hated in India but I
> will show how army, CRPF and police are unleashing reign of terror on
> innocent Kashmiris."
> He claimed that leading artists of the film Sanjay Dutt, Kunal Kapoor and
> Bipasha Basu are pro-Kashmir who are keen to reflect the real aspirations
> of
> Kashmiri people.
> "Bipasha Basu will play the role of Dukhtaran-e-Millat chairperson. She she
> is entirely pro-Kashmiri in the film," Dholakia said.
> He said Lamha has a potential to clear all pre-conceived notions about
> Kashmir as the film will realistically portray Kashmir to the audience
> around the world.
> "The two years of my research about Kashmir suggest that all the Bollywood
> films about Kashmir are fakes. I want to break this tradition. That is why
> I
> want to shoot this film here with stars like Sanjay Dutt and Bipasha Basu,"
> he added.
> He revealed some scenes in his film wherein half-widows ask the Indian
> troopers whereabouts of their husbands. "I have scenes like women holding
> photos of their husbands who are missing since 17 years, common Kashmiris
> being harassed by troops asking them to prove their identity and other
> painful incidents which happen here everyday," Dholakia said. "There are
> dialogues in the film where people say that if Aishwarya Rai sees moon or
> not it makes breaking news for Indian media but in Kashmir the women who
> have not seen their husbands since 17 years are not newsworthy."
> Dholakia said that at the end of the day, a question will be asked to the
> audience as to who should be held accountable for the ongoing tyranny in
> Kashmir.
> "When in a crackdown innocent Kashmiri girls are picked up and raped, no
> one
> does anything about it. Indians have been made to believe that a Kashmiri
> is
> a militant which is absolutely false, incorrect and ridiculous," he said.
> Dholakia said he wants to convey that Kashmiris are most sensitive,
> emotional and fine human beings who have been cheated year after year by
> various governments.
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