[Reader-list] More Than A Game (a young Kashmiri footballer’s fight to get a passport)

[Aalok Aima]

"The rejection stamp came down with a dread sense of finality though— Basharat was, after all, the son of a Pakistan-trained militant, Bashir Baba. It didn’t matter that Basharat had never picked up arms himself. As he took on the state in his fight to get a passport, Oscar-nominated film-maker Ashvin Kumar, 37, turned the camera on him. What resulted was a story of an underdog challenging the state machinery in a battle for dignity and identity."

".... says Kumar, .......that he was pleasantly surprised that the Censor Board passed the film unchanged. “My view on Indian democracy however, has changed after the film. I was a believer; now I am a sceptic,” he says."

"Today, Basharat, who practises for four hours every day and spends two hours in the gym, is quietly proud of his new passport. In a few months’ time he shall be applying for his visa. And then, hopefully, he will get a chance to live out his dream. Inshallah!"
 
............. aalok aima
 
 
 
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/more-than-a-game/708018/
 
More Than A Game
Dipanita Nath
Posted: Nov 08, 2010
 
Oscar-nominated director Ashvin Kumar’s new documentary captures a real-life story about a young Kashmiri footballer’s fight to get a passport 
 
Basharat Baba, 20, is a footballer from Srinagar. A few years ago, destiny delivered him the chance to leave behind his strife-torn land and nurture his talent — he was among the the three players from his club selected for a professional training in a Brazilian club. As he stood in the queue at the local passport office, application in hand, it was the excitement of playing in the land of Pele that surged through the young right wing forward.
 
The rejection stamp came down with a dread sense of finality though— Basharat was, after all, the son of a Pakistan-trained militant, Bashir Baba. It didn’t matter that Basharat had never picked up arms himself. As he took on the state in his fight to get a passport, Oscar-nominated film-maker Ashvin Kumar, 37, turned the camera on him. What resulted was a story of an underdog challenging the state machinery in a battle for dignity and identity. The one hour-twenty minute-long film, Inshallah! Football premiered at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi a few days ago and among those who watched from the front row was Basharat himself. “I don’t like the camera on me,” says the strapping footballer who has also played for Mohun Bagan, the premiere club of West Bengal. “I only know how to play football. The first time I watched this film, I was shaking. Today, I was calmer,” he says.
 
Kumar, a veteran of critically acclaimed films like Road to Ladakh and Little Terrorist (nominated for an Oscar in the Live Action Short Film Category in 2005) says he went to Kashmir early last year with a plan to make a feature film on the Valley where he had spent many childhood holidays at his grandfather’s house (designer Ritu Kumar’s father) in Baramulla. A chance meeting with Juan Marcos Troia, an Argentine footballer who ran ISAT, a club that coaches young Kashmiri boys to play professionally in clubs in Spain and Brazil, changed Kumar’s script. “My initial plan was to film two Kashmiri boys who went to Spain. But, midway, we realised that the film had to be about Basharat, the captain of ISAT, who was left behind,” he says.
 
As Basharat did the rounds of police stations and courts, Kumar spliced together a montage of images— from the plight of Kashmiri Pandits to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s rabble-rousing speeches, from stone pelting to Bashir’s interviews on militancy and the Army torture that followed. His camera juxtaposes opposites, like the poignant banner at an Army outpost which reads, “Respect All, Suspect All” standing out amidst the breathtaking scenic beauty.
 
Basharat’s story plays out against a backdrop of unrest in Kashmir interspersed with dark humour and tiny rays of hope in the form of Troia and his Brazilian wife Priscilla’s dedication to young footballers. “We filmed from August to November last year. The Shopian case had recently come to the fore but the situation hadn’t spiralled out of control. I was caught in a stone pelting melee but, otherwise, shooting was peaceful and I was able to travel freely with my crew,” says Kumar, adding that he was pleasantly surprised that the Censor Board passed the film unchanged. “My view on Indian democracy however, has changed after the film. I was a believer; now I am a sceptic,” he says.
 
Though he could not interview Army men and paramilitary personnel, Kumar did manage to get through to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who narrated how he had read about Basharat in The Indian Express (Game Interrupted, September 13, 2009) and intervened to get him his passport. Today, Basharat, who practises for four hours every day and spends two hours in the gym, is quietly proud of his new passport. In a few months’ time he shall be applying for his visa. And then, hopefully, he will get a chance to live out his dream. Inshallah!"