Beyond beauty, beneath pain: Why filmmakers keep returning to a wounded Kashmir?

India Today

17-05-2025

Indian cinema's love for Kashmir is beyond its beauty. The stunning skies, colourful shikaras dancing in the middle of the Dal lake, and the dazzling snow-capped mountains make every frame look like it was painted by God herself. But, that's not the only reason why filmmakers keep returning to the Valley despite its turbulent history.Kashmir's history has been written with so much pain and drama that the place's existence looks straight from a full-fledged commercial Hindi film. The more you explore, the more it resembles an epic tale - unbelievable, yet hauntingly real. The language of the place attracts a creative mind to dig into more about its history, its people, the culture and the future as well.advertisementUsing Kashmir as the backdrop of any story means making the Valley look like an unspoken character in the film. Something that director Vishal Bharadwaj did in 'Haider'. Or that Shakti Samanta did in 1964 by setting a love story between Sharmila Tagore and Shammi Kapoor in 'Kashmir Ki Kali'. In 1965, Kashmir again served as the backdrop for a new love story - between a Shikara owner (Shashi Kapoor) and a rich tourist (Nanda) - in Suraj Prakash's 'Jab Jab Phool Khile'.
Actor John Abraham, who has shot extensively in Kashmir, decoded why the filmmakers just can't get enough of the Valley. The 52-year-old recalled shooting 'Vedaa' there, and remembered how the place hosted both a sense of calm and 'uneasiness'. While speaking to India Today Digital, the popular action star narrated that Kashmir became a character in his film, and it does the same for so many other films because it can never be just a location.advertisement"Kashmir was a very important character in the film. If you've seen Veda, (you'd know) that's where he (the male lead has) lost his wife, which is why we shot there. It was very important to get the characters right in the film. Kashmir was not just a cinematic journey for us. It was a character and the backstory of our film," he said.Abraham, who has worked with the biggest production houses in the country and has been acting for over two decades, said he experienced strangeness there. He recalled, "So I shot there for quite some time. I don't remember how many days, but we got a very, very long schedule there. In fact, when I shot there, I think there was a certain shot. I was shooting by a mosque and, I was wondering, and I mean it, it was a drone shot and everybody had moved out. The shot happened at 7 am when we got the right light. Let me tell you that I felt...there was a strange sense of calm there but also a strange sense of uneasiness." But, what about security? On April 22 this year, 26 innocent people, mostly tourists, were shot dead by terrorists while they were soaking up the beauty of Kashmir in the popular Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam - an incident that sent the entire nation into mourning. Even with all its unmatched beauty on the surface, Kashmir has carried deep wounds of Pakistan-backed terrorism within. History hasn't been able to heal the Valley. But, those who have shot there and lived there say its people continue to wake up and welcome new sunshine every day, irrespective of witnessing the most cloudy, gloomy and dark days.advertisementDirector Siddharth P Malhotra, known for 'Hichki' and 'Maharaj', among others, shot his web series 'Kaafir' and a TV show called 'Pashmina' in the Valley. He recalled, "Kashmir is India's Switzerland, every frame is naturally stunning. But, what makes it magical isn't just the views; it's the people. During our shoot, I experienced first-hand how deeply hospitable and kind-hearted Kashmiris are."Kashmir's beauty lies in its people and the culture that they treasure so deeply. Malhotra explained, "If you are lost at 2 am, they'll take you home, offer you kahwa, lend their phones, rich or poor. That's their spirit. That's Kashmiriyat, warmth, dignity, and generosity.""Yes, filmmakers will always have security concerns, especially after recent incidents. But the legacy and heart of Kashmir is its people, its food, its culture that make it unforgettable. It changes you. And that's why cinema will keep returning to the valley," he concluded.advertisementKashmir's beauty is one thing, but its truth is something else. The Valley's truth is that terrorism has attacked her, robbed her of her serenity, and has forced her to see more destruction than any other place in the country. And yet she reconstructed herself - again and again. For filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, it's important that cinema continues to show Kashmir's pain and wounds in their entirety.His film 'The Kashmir Files' featured one of the most tragic events in history that happened in the Valley - the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (1990). In an exclusive interview with India Today, Agnihotri said the Valley would be healed completely the day the world acknowledges its past injuries and understands the conflict that continues to tear it up into pieces. The 51-year-old referred to the West's unawareness of the issues of Kashmir and how cinema can become so much more by reading the language of Kashmir and learning from its history. "We need to make more films on Kashmir and use it as our soft power to fight the world. We need to convey our message like Hollywood, which made so many films on the Holocaust that nobody in the world dared to say a word against the Holocaust," he said.advertisementThe director added, "Now, in India, we keep questioning, debating around it, and that is the reason that in this conflict with Pakistan, suddenly, the American diplomats have raised the question of Kashmir because they don't know, they are not aware (of the real issues). I just came back from the US and I know they have absolutely no idea about this region. How does it work? The only way (to make the world more aware of Kashmir) is to show it with a lot of human touch, a lot of care, tenderness. Unless and until you feel that pain... And anybody who makes a film on Kashmir must go and speak to the victims of Kashmir."Understanding Kashmir is not a day's job. It's about learning and unlearning years of its silence, and looking at its silken green meadows turning heavy with pain. A few days ago, actor Suniel Shetty shared a post on social media in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack, and said he would go back to Kashmir for his next family holiday. The same sentiments are echoed by the filmmakers we spoke to. Do we leave a family member to suffer in pain if they are going through a difficult time? Do we just leave them behind to deal with their problems on their own? Do we cut ties? No, because that's not the spirit of India. We value our relationships and our own more than ourselves. For us, Kashmir still is and will always be the cradle of mountains where heaven sleeps. And for as long as the Chinar blushes in the arms of the breeze, the cinema will continue to pay a visit.Kashmir wears her wounds like ancestral gold, and the filmmakers will make sure that we see the Valley standing, with snow in her hair. As Malhotra concluded beautifully, "We would go back in a heartbeat."
IN THIS STORY#John Abraham#Anupam Kher