The Kashmir story is a bloody one. It is like an old burnt piece of paper that’s been scared from all ends. Nonetheless, what remains is abundant hope and a promise of a good day.
It’s within this paradigm of optimism that conversations around Kashmir blossom within the warm wooded interiors of Akshara Theatre, that is readying itself for a new play called Kashmir Stories, a subject close to their creative heart. Jalabala Vaidya and Anasuya Vaidya, who has directed the play, have used all their investigative resources, for this compelling telling requires thorough examination.
Recently we saw many youngsters from the valley taking to paint and colour to illustrate the turbulence within a once-tranquil valley. Unfortunately today it is shackled with resisting censorship and surveillance.
Closer to home, these two women who have constructed a drama based on the dramatic turn of events that have transpired in Kashmir since 1989.
There have been many attempts to shoot down expressions of dissent against Kashmir. But art always finds a way to creep in from the narrowest hallways into the public domain with its brazen face. “One cannot stifle what art sets out to communicate.
For authority, our political leadership, it is never going to be welcome, but we as thespians have a responsibility towards our patrons, which is to align ourselves with open and honest expression,” says Anasuya.
The play is a tell-all that brings back stories of real people, brutal encounters, and crucial episodes experienced by internationally acclaimed theatre and television artists Gopal Sharman and Jalabala Vaidya, through a decade of travelling and filming in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
“There will be extracts from documentary footage The Kashmir Story, introducing everybody to gun-toting militants in Sopore, a tough-talking Buddhist leader in Leh, a gardener in the Shalimar Gardens, a poet-musician singing by candle-light in a houseboat, children in a refugee camp in Jammu, hypocritical politicians and fearless journalists in Srinagar, embattled Rajputs in Bhadarwah, victims of police violence in Doda; among others,” she says.
But the thing with Kashmir has always been that no matter how dense the gloom, it always managed to show us a silver lining. It could be the turnaround in tourism that its seen in the last few years, or its vast continuous supply of carved walnut woodwork. The Kashmiri story will always be worth narrating, now and forever.
March 23 and 24, at 7 pm, Akshara Theatre, Baba Kharak Singh Marg.