KL Report

SRINAGAR

The crew shooting the film ‘Haider’ has regretted the ‘unfortunate’ incident that took place in the lawns of the University of Kashmir on Sunday. Though they have shot the scene elsewhere, the people associated with the film said the particular scene was completely mistaken by the students who did not know the context of the scene.

“We regret that it (incident) happened,” a senior official of the crew told Kashmir Life. “Our problem is that we can not reveal details of every scene and had we done that, nothing of this sort would have happened.”

The executive said the unit after leaving the university intervened at many levels to secure the immediate release of the boys who were unfortunately detained by the police.

The story, the executive of the crew said, is completely a Kashmiri story and tells the story of the people of Kashmir from their point of view. “The film actually is a tribute to their survival against odds and at every level the film is ensuring the story stays true to the reality of Kashmir,” he said. “We do here complaints that the Bollywood is taking a completely different line on Kashmir story telling but this would not be the case in Haider.”

Sources in the film crew insist that ‘Haider; is meant to be a radical change from the steroetypical and jingoistic representation of Kashmir and Kashmiris in Bollywood. Every character in the film is a Kashmiri.

However, the producers said the screenplay can not be revealed completely because it devours the surprise element that is vital for the success of any film, made within or outside India. “We simply want to assure the people of Kashmir that Hiader is telling their story to a larger audience, a story of tragedy and travails that has been completely ignored so far,” the executive said.

“We have this Kashmiri story and we have a vast number of Kashmir artists in the film and it speaks about our commitment to the story and to the people of Kashmir.”

Haider is taking Shahid Kapoor to a new level of story telling in which he goes bald, perhaps for the first time in his career. Shrada Kapoor is his lead female actor and Tabu plays role of a mother in the trilogy.  A Vishal Bhardwaj film, parts if it have already been shot in Dal lake, Pahalgam, Sonamarg and various parts of the Srinagar city.

Bhardwaj is understood to have studied contemporary Kashmir extensively before starting his work on Haider. He has already created After Maqbool from Macbeth and Omkara from Othello. Now everybody is waiting how Haider emerges from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the author’s longest play based on justice and revenge. Bhardwaj was not immediately available for the comment.

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