Tariq A. Rather

The 44th edition of International Film Fes-tival of India (IFFI) at Goa has proved a won-derful platform for the Kashmiri filmmakers asthe festival provided them opportunity toshowcase their creative work not only to thedomestic but also to the international audi-ences.

Three non-feature films by Kashmiri film-makers were screened during the 11 day fes-tival beginning on November 20. AnotherKashmiri filmmaker having worked as anAssociate Director for 90-Minute Afghan-IndoFilm “AMan’s Desire For AFifth Wife”—in Darilanguage, featured under ‘Cinema of theWorld’ section in the festival.

‘Shepherds of Paradise’ by Raja ShabirKhan, ‘23 Winters’ by Rajesh S Jala and‘Sama: Muslim Mystic Music of India’ byShazia Khan, are the three films which foundplace in the prestigious Indian Panorama-Non Feature (IP-NF) Section of IFFI-2013.

‘Shepherds of Paradise’‘Shepherds of Paradise’, , in Gojri & Urdu

is a 50 minute film which narrates the story of75-year-old Gafoor, a shepherd (Gujjar–Bak-erwal community), who travels on foot withhis family and herd from the plains of Jammuto the mountains of Kashmir in summer, andreverses the trip in winter. The steep terrain,unpredictable weather and the onset of tur-bulent situation in Kashmir, makes it a haz-ardous journey. The film was screened twiceduring the festival.

The film has bagged the National FilmAward Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus Award),a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 1.50 Lakhat the 60th National Film Awards ceremonyheld on May 3, 2013. The film has shared theBest Cinematography award with anotherMarathi film ‘Kaatal’.

Director Raja Shabir says that it was a verychallenging task to film because of the toughterrain, rough weather, long journey and thelimited resources. The film was shot by with-out any crew and I followed the shepherds onfoot all along their traditional hilly tracks ofabout 300 km., he added.

After completing his studies in political

science and history from Kashmir Universi-ty, Raja Shabir Khan joined the Satyajit RayFilm and Television Institute (SRFTII) inKolkata in 2003 and later he relocated toMumbai for a year. His first documentaryfilm, ‘Angels of Troubled Paradise’, has wonthe special jury mention award at the 3rdSiliguri International Short and Documen-tary Film Festival.

‘23 Winters’:‘23 Winters’, a 25 minute Kashmiri & Hin-

di film, screened twice at IFFI, is a fictionalstory of a schizophrenic Kashmiri Pandit’sjourney to the Valley after living in Delhi forseveral years. A film set in reality, played bya real protagonist, Bota, who lives a surre-al life. This film looks at his traumatic pastwhich haunts his exiled present. Nonethe-less, his hopes are unvanquished, the filmexplains.

Rajesh Jala says that he has been mak-ing films, primarily, documentaries, for 11years and has been an enlightening journeythrough human emotions, social concernsand inner conflicts. He has directed and pro-

duced a number of documentary films andtelevision series for leading internationaland Indian TV channels. His films have beenselected at a number of international film fes-tivals including Montreal, Puson, Amster-dam, IFFI, Warsaw, Leipzig, Munich, Rome,MIDD, Thessaloniki, MOMA, etc, he added.

‘Sama: Muslim Mystic Music of India’:It is a 52 minute Hindi & English film

screened once at IFFI explores the Muslimmusic tradition in India and portrays how thetwo have borrowed and taken inspirationfrom each other. The film attempts to discov-er that connection which allows the per-former to become one with the Creator andexperience the peace, calm, serenity and joywith the artist as he creates Sama. The filmhas cinematography by Salim Khan, ShaziaKhan & Mohammad Yunus Zargar.

Neelofar Shama, from Baramulla, NorthKashmir, has worked as an Associate Direc-tor for “A Man’s Desire For A Fifth Wife”,directed and written by its lead actor Moham-mad Sediq Abedi who is having 19 years ofprofessional experience in Afghanistan

based Jihoon Film & Altin Film companies.The story of the film reflects the thousand

year old custom which occurs in a village atthe North of Afghanistan and tells the story ofviolence against women. A man with old tra-ditions wants to get married for the fifth time;despite of having 4 wives already and the sto-ry shows women weak and sufferer existingin a society. The story portrays all factors ofthe age old culture and traditional gameBuzkashi or Oghlak with thousand horses.

During media interaction along with Tah-mina Rajabova, Tajik actress playing role of3rd wife in the film, at the IFFI, NeelofarShama said that she has started her careeras a freelance producer-director with Door-darshan and has directed more than 70documentaries, 85 TV serials, 5 advertise-ment films, 5 telefilms and 5 short films &several talk shows. She says working onAfghan film was a mix of fear, enthusiasm& adventure.

(The author is Media & Communication Officer,

PIB Srinagar)

State Filmmakers make a mark

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2013 INTERNET EDITION : www.dailyexcelsior.com/magazine

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Avtar Bhat

Constructed way back in 1960 by then Prime Minister Bak-

shi Ghulam Mohammed, Jammu Ware House the hub of

whole sale market in the State has presently turned into a

ghetto with authorities at helm of affairs taking no pains to

improve its condition.With increasing pressure on Kanak Mandi which was till then the main

whole sale market of the State and lack of space there, the then Govern-ment led by Mr Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed on the persistent demand of trad-ing community decided to shift the Ware House across Tawi bridge by allot-ting land and constructing shopping complex there 53 years back. But withthe considerable increase in the population of the State as well as the sup-ply and demand, the successive Governments failed to expand the presentWare House or shift it to any alternative place to cater to the increasing needsof the trading community of the State as Jammu Ware House caters to theneeds of the people of all three regions of J&K.

Spread over about 100 kanals of land presently, the stinking Ware HouseJammu is totally in shambles as its position is not better than that of a slumarea of a metropolitan city of the country with goods lying scattered in bigheaps all along emitting foul smell especially during the rainy season. Despiterepeated pleas to the concerned authorities by the Traders Federation WareHouse no steps have been taken till date to solve the problem. Even the pro-posal mooted to shift the Ware House to Birpur area in Samba district wherethe land for this purpose was also identified seems to have been shelved forunknown reasons which indicates that chances of shifting the wholesale mar-ket of Jammu to an alternative place are bleak in the near future. This hasgenerated a lot of resentment among the trading community of the State ingeneral as well as those of Ware House in particular who face many difficul-ties in conducting smooth trading due to curbs imposed by the Governmenton movement of trucks in the Ware House during the peak hours coupledwith increasing power cuts etc.

Despite the assurances given by the authorities including the Chief Min-ister, Omar Abdullah to shift the Ware House no headway has been madein this regard till date alleged Sham Lal Gupta, vice president of Traders Fed-eration Ware House. Terming the all assurances given by the Governmenttotally hollow regarding shifting of the whole sale market of the State, he saidthere is no land available with Government to shift the Ware House andauthorities till date have failed to identify the area in this regard.

Gupta said that 80 kanals of land were identified at Raya Suchani whichis not sufficient for the Ware House and now the Government has mootedanother proposal to purchase the land at Thandi Khoi in Samba district butno headway has been made in this regard till date.

With lack of space to keep their goods in the shops the wholesale tradersare forced to keep them in heaps outside their business establishments thein open and this way a portion of goods perishes due to rains there by put-ting traders to heavy loss as there is no scientific mechanism with traders ofpreserving the goods.

The situation takes a critical turn in rainy seasons like Monsoon and Win-ter when the goods kept outside the market remain soaked in rain water fordays together.

The traders demand for granting permission for construction of secondstories and godowns has also not been conceded by the authorities with theresult there is no end to the woes of the wholesale trading community ofWare House, said Aryan Ramesh another whole sale trader.

He said during 1960 when Ware House was constructed the populationof Jammu was 80,000 which has now touched near 20 lakh during last 53years and there is dire need of shifting it to the alternative place keeping inview the population influx of Jammu.

On the one hand the Government has failed to shift the Ware House and

on the other hand it has imposed curbs on the movement of trucks duringthe peak hours hitting the business to a great extent, said Sham Lal Gupta,adding 300 whole sale traders of Ware House, KC Market, Nehru marketand adjoining private market have been hit worst by this step.

He said to meet this problem now traders are directly supplying the mate-rial through mills in trucks but how far this practice will continue.

He said even the demand of the traders to grant permission for construc-tion of double stories till shifting of the Ware House has not been conceded.

Suggesting constructing of a new Ware House on scientific principleskeeping provision for its expansion up to 100 years in advance, he said theGovernment should frame a comprehensive policy in this regard as the newWare House should be constructed on modern pattern having all facilities.

He also suggested shifting of transport yard from Ware House and allot-ting the land to the wholesale traders till the shifting of the whole sale mar-ket. This could also ease the problem of traders to some extent, he added.

In addition to it the authorities are paying no attention in sanitation of WareHouse and there is no proper drainage system in the entire area resultinginto insanitation of the area during rains season as cesspools of water areseen every where adding further to the health hazards there, said AryanRamesh.

Despite being an income generating source for Government as the WareHouse traders pay Rs 1000 crore Sales Tax and near Rs 200 crore IncomeTax to State annually, but they are totally a neglected lot for reasons bestknown to authorities said Ram Langer another trader.

He said the Government is not paying any attention to look into the basic

problems of the traders of Ware House which included power cuts, lack of

medicare facilities, haltage place for labour etc.

He said despite the installation of electronic meters the Ware House con-

tinues to face routine power cuts which is affecting the business as the com-

puters and other machines working on power don’t run during this time. More-

over traders face problems due to the power cuts during late evening hours

when they have to close the cash, he added.

Besides there is neither any Sarai in entire Ware House, for staying of

labour class nor medicare facilities for them which is worrisome.

However JDA is facing hurdles in identification of land for the Ware House

and the organization till date has not been able to find an alternative place

to shift the Ware House from its preset place.

Admitting this, the Vice Chairman, JDA, Kuldeep Khajuria told Excelsior

that the Agency till date could not identify an alternative to shift the Ware

House but they are on the job. He however maintained that the JDA till shift-

ing of the Ware House to an alternative place has taken steps to improve

facilities in present Ware House. He said in this connection a Committee of senior officers of JDA has been

constituted and it will submit report within four to five days for improving facil-ities in the Ware House as demanded by the traders. Every possible stepwill be taken to solve the problem especially created due to space crunch,sanitation, electricity etc he added.

A TROUBLE SPOT FOR TRADERS

The film has bagged the

National Film Award Swar-

na Kamal (Golden Lotus

Award), a certificate and

a cash prize of Rs 1.50

Lakh at the 60th National

Film Awards ceremony

held on May 3, 2013. The

film has shared the Best

Cinematography award

with another Marathi film

‘Kaatal’.

Excelsior/Rakesh