00:00So I think I was in Kashmir in 2016 when I was doing a travel documentary called
00:11Trip With Me and it so happened to be that when I was in Kashmir it was just
00:19post the Burhan Wani encounter and the whole single spell curfew that Kashmir
00:25it was actually one of the longest single spell curfews that Kashmir had
00:28ever experienced or witnessed. So for example when we saw COVID Kashmir had
00:34already seen that problem way way before you know when we experienced what COVID
00:39was like total sense of lockdown all services shut down mobile and internet
00:44was off so everything being off Kashmir had already experienced that kind of
00:48situations. For me that was very new and very very interesting to see from a
00:53human standpoint because there was army outside every house there was all the
00:58shops were shut there used to be something called a deal that for how long
01:03will the shops be open. So I was very fascinated by just the visual that no one is
01:09coming out of the house, no one is doing anything you know army everywhere what
01:14is going on it felt like a fortress and that is when I realized that Kashmir has
01:18you know forever had this kind of a situation but just at this time it had
01:22gotten really worse. So I used to always wonder and ask myself that this army is also
01:27standing outside the house, this is not a house for them and this is not normal for a common man
01:32because there is an armed force standing outside their house so they are not able to do anything.
01:36So obviously these are people from two different ideologies, different mindsets they are
01:40not on the same side. What if there had to be a relationship between these two
01:47different sets of people so what if an army guy had to communicate with a local
01:52what would their conversation be like? Obviously it would be that you move out of my house
01:56what are you doing? You have come to ruin my environment and the army guy would also think that
02:00every person who is Kashmiri, is he a terrorist? Is he going to do something wrong?
02:07So there would be an animosity between the two. What if a bond is created between the two?
02:14So to create that bond I said that how can a bond be created? Because for the army guys
02:19we feel that the army guys are standing with a gun which is more powerful but I was also thinking
02:24from their point of view that they also stand there so they stand there for hours and hours
02:29not to see anyone, not to do anything, no activity, no entertainment.
02:34So equally it was for me, you know people who are not living normal lives.
02:39A lot of people used to say, Kashmiris used to say that the army guys are coming and ruining.
02:43But I can understand if you say this about the government but what is the fault of the army guys?
02:48They are just in a job, they're doing their duty. So for me I wanted to think from these two human
02:54sides and that's how I thought of Kava and I thought that if I could blend these two human
03:00sides together that is how I got inspired of writing Kava and making Kava basically.
03:10We make films for an audience and we make films very selflessly although you know
03:16there is a very selfish motive that you are liking the film a lot but when we gauge or judge a film
03:24we are also judging it from a point of view that the audience will cry here, the audience will laugh
03:29here, the audience will clap here. So I think we make films from that perspective, any film
03:34we make that the audience will like it, you know at the end of the day it's a medium of entertainment,
03:38it's a medium of creativity, it's a medium of art. So whenever people appreciate anything that we do
03:45I think that's a very satisfying thing because you know that okay you're thinking right,
03:51I think it's an awakening for you that you are thinking as a common man,
03:58your communication is reaching more people than it should and I think that is a very very good
04:05feeling because when more than 10 people in a room also appreciate what you're doing
04:10then you're thinking right, you're sane, you're not going to do anything extraordinary,
04:14you know it's good to do something out of the box but not so much that no one understands.
04:19So I feel that when people appreciate the work you do then at least you're in the right direction
04:25basically. So that's what I feel, I don't take it back home and I don't live with it because I also
04:30feel that everything that you create has a certain life. Today a lot of films are being re-released
04:35in theatres, yesterday I saw Khosla Ghosla is being re-released. So I'm sure today it will get
04:39appreciation, today it will get appreciation in theatres more than it got at that time,
04:43in theatres. Tumbadh got appreciation now. So I feel that every film has a life and a span
04:49when people relate to it, appreciate it. So I'm glad that it happened for Kava.
04:59So I honestly don't think of all these things when I do anything, when I create anything.
05:03In fact, I have a dream of creating this production entity where we will be one of the
05:09most vocal voices about beautiful stories in the country. So I've never thought, you know when I
05:17made Shakal Pe Mat Ja also in 2011, I was very young to be directing a film that time but I
05:24had made it about how airport security has been weak, you know. And it's good to have
05:32things going on smoothly. So I'd made a film about that even then, that you know the way
05:3826-11 happened in Bombay, it happened because it was possible, you know. It was possible for
05:43somebody to enter with the board. I still hear podcasts that a lot of, you know, somebody like
05:49Adaud Ibrahim would have entered, you know. And I don't, I am not surprised because it's very
05:54possible. Although we have great security forces but there are possibilities of lapses.
06:00So I don't think, I am very worried about the political. I feel that for me, it is not about
06:06a political issue, it is about a human issue. It is not about which political party should be there
06:10but it is about the fact that two sides of human beings are not comfortable in living in that,
06:16were not comfortable living in that era that there is an army in front of my house and army
06:21just being deployed for the heck of army being deployed. So I feel that was the issue I wanted
06:26to address and I think I didn't, I didn't have any burdens.
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