Mission Kashmir----Article!

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Posted: 19 years ago

Mission Kashmir

After the Gujarat riots, Rahul Dholakia trains his camera on Kashmir militancy. (Naturally he wants us to forget Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar very quickly)

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Subhash K Jha

A still from Parzania

After Parzania, director Rahul Dholakia is ready to make another issue-based film. "I'm working on a subject on Kashmir. It's a thriller. I've to do a whole lot of research on Kashmir militancy. Parzania took five years to make. Let's see how much time the next one takes," he says.

The idea of making a Kashmir-based film came to Dholakia after he met some students from the Valley. "They said they didn't feel they were a part of India at all. And they didn't want to go to Pakistan! They felt like aliens in their own country. I think there's a great story there. The only thing is, so many films with Kashmir militancy as the theme from Mission Kashmir to Yahan have already been done. I plan to again put the turbulent backdrop as the motivating force behind a human story as I did in Parzania," he says.

At the moment he's beleaguered by the Gujarat blanket-ban on his film. "We had problems in Mumbai already since we were distributing the film ourselves. All the good theatres had gone to Salaam-E-Ishq. They wanted that film in all the theatres. My film is half the length of Salaam-E-Ishq. I think I could make two Parzanias within the budget for their publicity," he says.

Rahul hasn't given up hope of releasing the film in Gujarat. "The theatre owners are passing the buck for my film's non-release to the theatre booking-agents," he says.

Rahul is disappointed that his film has been held back in Gujarat. He says, "I had put in ads in the papers, booked theatres. But hours before release I got a call saying they won't release Parzania in Gujarat. No reason was given."

Rahul Dholakia

Rahul reiterates Parzania isn't a political film. "Of course, there're lots of political undertones. But it's a human interest story," he says.

He attributes the film's impact to his actors. "Naseer is one of our best actors. He's totally quiet in the second half and we shot that half first. He kept wondering if he would be allowed to speak. It's truly a team effort. Imagine we did sync sound for the entire film including the riot sequences."

Rahul laughs, "Parzania gave me chronic diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. I couldn't sleep. Images from my research about the carnage kept me traumatized and awake. Then came the stress of censorship and release. Now let's see what diseases my next film gives me. But this time around I want a producer from Mumbai. So I don't have to worry about everything from banners to remunerations. But I am scared. After Parzania if I go back to making Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar (Dholakia's first film) I'm done for."

Source: https://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&am p;sectid=30&contentid=200701300258442039baf395b

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Mission Kashmir----Article!

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