‘Stone pelting for Rs 500 - Rs 1000’

Talktime| Shekhar Suman

Actor-turned-director is all excited about his next movie on stone pelting in Kashmir and the reason behind the unrest. He talks to Sangeeta Yadav about how he is going about in making this film

What is your upcoming movie Patharbaaz about?

It’s about a protagonist, a stone pelter but when loses his younger brother and close friend, he realises that what he was doing is not worth the loss. He also questions himself whether what are they are fighting for will help them achieve aazadi or whether it is just a utopic thought.

The movie also deals with how three-four-year-old children get into stone pelting out of fun. Some out of economic necessities to earn Rs 500 to Rs 1000, some find it a very romantic idea of becoming a revolutionary but don’t even understand when they say slogans like maaro ya mar jao (kill or die).

This has given a window to infiltrators. There are some who genuinely want aazadi because they feel that with heavy militarisation post-1997, there have been incidents of them being tortured by the Indian Army which may or may not be true.

Why a movie on stone pelters?

The continual incidents of stone pelting in the Valley have besieged my mind. I kept wondering what the core problem is and it is recurring. It was there in the 1990s and then it died down. Then it came back in 2010 with Burhan Wani coming in and being killed. The killing saw stone pelters back on the streets. Who are these stone pelters? When they say they want aazadi at any cost, what do they want aazadi from and how do they expect to get the aazadi? Why do they refuse to be a part of India? My curiosity to know the answers to these questions led me to make Patharbaaz.

What kind of treatment are you giving to Patharbaaz?

I want to look at the situation in a more humane fashion and not politically. We must hear their side of the story as well. I don’t want to take sides or resort to any sort of propaganda. I don’t want to sound overly Indian and patriotic which I’m but I also want to know that if there is a problem, there must be a solution to it. My film at the end concludes with a message — that violence serves no purpose no matter what you do. There is need to explore the truth and bring peace to the Valley. This has to end. Through a film, if I can send a message across and say that peace must prevail at any cost, then I would have served my purpose as a filmmaker.

What were your findings of the research?

It started way back in 1947 when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had promised a referendum giving the choice to Kashmir to either go to Pakistan or India. That referendum never happened. If they had been given the opportunity, Kashmir might have gone to Pakistan but the fact remains the Government did all that it wanted to do for Kashmiris considering them as a part of India. But Kashmiris felt that Indians have betrayed them. A lot of people have come together to demand aazad Kashmir. They do it by pelting stones at the Army. Thereby it is a reflection of the manifestation of their anger. In retaliation, the Army sometimes fires plastic bullets injuring protesters.

What are the challenges in making the movie?

From writing the script to do justice to the problem and be sensitive to the issue to get the correct starcast — Kashmiri non-actors to act and get permission to shoot in the real location especially the stone-pelting sequences, all these are grave challenges. It is not going to be easy.

Will your son Adhayan going to be a part of this movie?

He will be a part of this film but right now he is busy shooting for his first single in Goa. He is a great singer and will foray into direction with his new script called Airport which is about two people who meet at the airport and realise that they are soulmates.