Srinagar, Oct 17: Filmmaker Anirban Dhar has called for sustained government support, dedicated funding and a more enabling environment for filmmaking in Kashmir, saying the region has considerable talent but lacks the opportunities and infrastructure needed to help young filmmakers build careers.
Speaking on the opening day of the Kashmir Film Festival, Dhar said 17 students from different parts of Kashmir, including Bandipora, Baramulla and Srinagar, were participating in a filmmaking workshop alongside students from other parts of India.
The participants will collaborate to produce four short films during the 10-day festival, focusing on Kashmiri stories and language.
“There is a lot of talent in Kashmir. The biggest problem is that there are no opportunities here. There is no film industry here,” Dhar said.
He said the workshop was intended to provide practical experience and create opportunities for young filmmakers beyond the festival. Three students will be selected for internships in Mumbai, where they will get an opportunity to work with Dhar and filmmaker Kabir Khan.
Dhar said the festival would also bring filmmakers from Mumbai to interact with participants. Kabir Khan was scheduled to attend a screening and engage with the students, while filmmaker Payal Kapadia was expected to screen her film All We Imagine as Light and interact with them.
Calls for Dedicated Film Fund
Dhar said the government needed to move beyond organising film festivals and establish a financial support mechanism to enable local filmmakers to produce films in Kashmiri with Kashmiri actors.
He said he had met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to seek support for the filmmaking workshop and discuss opportunities for Kashmiri students to pursue further studies in Mumbai, where film education can be prohibitively expensive.
“It’s very expensive, and not everyone can afford to do it,” he said.
Emphasising the need to build a local film industry, Dhar said Kashmir should not remain merely a location where filmmakers from outside come to shoot their productions.
“It is important that people don’t just come from outside to shoot here, but that the local talent here can also tell its own stories,” he said.
He proposed that the government create an annual fund to support filmmakers making films in Kashmiri with local actors.
“Suppose you give five filmmakers one crore rupees each every year, or even Rs 50 lakh each, so that they can make films in Kashmiri with Kashmiri actors. That is how the industry can develop,” he said.
Dhar said sustained support for local productions could gradually create the conditions for a film industry to emerge in Kashmir.
Seeks Simpler Rules, Artistic Freedom
The filmmaker also expressed concern over bureaucratic requirements for making films in Kashmir, arguing that excessive procedures could discourage young people from pursuing creative projects.
Referring to reports that scripts for short films had to be submitted to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), he questioned the need for such requirements before a project could be made.
“I have heard that even if you want to make a short film here, you have to send the script to the CID. This is wrong,” he said.
Dhar argued that filmmakers should have greater artistic freedom, with appropriate scrutiny taking place through established mechanisms rather than multiple layers of prior permissions.
“There is already a censor board. If there is a problem, it can be looked at later. But if you have to go through so many procedures, seek permissions from 10 different places and submit even a short film’s script to the CID, that is not a healthy atmosphere,” he said.
He said such restrictions raised questions about how freely young filmmakers could think and express themselves through cinema.
“I would really encourage the government to rethink its policies and make them more friendly. There is no need for so much bureaucracy. The need is to encourage and support young people so that they can tell the stories of Kashmir,” Dhar said.
He said developing Kashmiri cinema would require a combination of financial assistance, professional training opportunities, simpler procedures and greater space for local voices to tell their own stories.
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