Kolkata, Nov 15 (PTI) Kashmir may have lost its cinemahalls to insurgency and militia but the conflict-ridden Valleyprovides an apt landscape for shooting films, director RahatKazmi said.
His latest venture "Side A & Side B", which deals withhuman emotions and a common man's love for cinema even duringextreme conditions, was screened at the 'Indian language filmssection' of the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival(KIFF).
Addressing a press meet, Kazmi said, "This film talksabout a period when youngsters from small towns flocked totheatres to watch Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
"Suddenly, cinema was banned in the Valley and so was theidea of watching TV or listening to music. What happens to theboys thereafter is what you get to see in the film," he added.
Kazmi said the theatres that were closed way back in 1990were now home to the security forces Indian Army, and todaythere seems no attempt to restore them.
Tariq Khan, one of the producers of the film, said thesituation has improved in parts of the state such as Srinagarand Poonch over the years, unlike what has been portrayed inthe media, the whole of Kashmir was not burning.
"At Srinagar's Lal Chowk, women move around freelyaround in the afterhours unlike metros. The situation is notso bad for the common people in Kashmir. Still, theatres seemto be a distant dream. When an incident or two of violence isreported at one place, it is projected that the entire Kashmiris in flames," Khan said.
Kazmi said "Side A & Side B" was conceived to make amovie on a place where people no longer get to visit cinemahalls.
"It is about the idea of making a film on a placewhere watching a film is a crime. The place still provides aperfect setting for shooting movies. Some sequences werefrom stories we have heard or situations we have experienced.
But there are no autobiographical elements," he added.
Stating that they had been trying to make films on theValley and its people for the past four to five years, thedirector said he tried to capture nuances of everyday life inthe film.
Talking about the appreciation his film received at theCannes Film Festival earlier this year, Kazmi said, "Theaudience at Cannes generously appreciated our efforts to makea film on Kashmir. We saw the same buzz there that we see hereat KIFF," he said.
Asked about a possible solution to the hostilesituation in the Valley, he said, "Once you go there, yourperception will change. Cinema itself can play a big role inchanging things there." PTI SUS RMS RDSRB.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.