The word 'Paradise' hangs over Kashmiris like a burden:filmmaker

New Delhi, July 23 (UNI) 'If there is a paradise on earth, it is Kashmir, it is Kashmir, it is Kashmir', goes a famous saying used by poets and philosophers over the years to describe the beauty of the Kashmir Valley.

Filmmaker Sanjay Kak, however, feels that for most people in Kashmir, the word 'paradise', used to describe the valley, hangs like a Burden.

''What is a paradise for all the poets, philosophers and tourists visiting Kashmir could be a hell for the people living of the Valley,''Sanjay Kak said after the screening of his film 'Jashan-e-Azadi' ('How We Celebrate Freedom'), a film seeking to explore meanings of freedom for the people of Kashmir, at the Osian's Cinefan film festival here yesterday.

Speaking at a question and answer session after the screening, the filmmaker said,''the idea of 'azadi' (Freedom) is so central to the troubles in the strife-torn Kashmir Valley, and yet how great a silence engulfs that idea.'' ''In this context, the film 'How We Celebrate Freedom' is a way of breaking this horrible silence. It is an attempt on my part to lift the lid on a sentiment in Kashmir that existed in the 80s and the 90s.'' Replying to a question, Kak lamented that all public discussion on this issue over the last few decaded had been stymied by the Kashmiri Pandits having to leave the valley in the 80s and the 90s.

Asked if this was the reason for the film not containing any reference to the Kashmiri pandits and their exodus from the valley during the peak of the militancy there, Kak, who is a Kashmiri Pandit himself, said,''I personally feel that post 1947, the stand of pandits has been a pro-India stand. Hence the lack of any reference to the Kashmiri Pandits point of view.'' Kak said the film tried to articulated the sentiment in Kashmir without pointing fingers at anyone in particular.

''The film has a form which is open and suggestive and which allows people space in which to make their own minds about the implications of what they are watching,''the filmmaker said.

UNI