IK Presskit

RELEASED ONLINE ON REPUBLIC DAY – 26th JANUARY, 2012                                  

    Ashvin Kumar’s “Inshallah Kashmir: Living Terror” was released online on the Indian Republic Day. Inshallah Kashmir: Find the story online http://storify.com/ashvinaway/inshallah-kashmir

NOTE ON THE FILM: "Inshallah, Kashmir: Living Terror" contains heart-wrenching stories of brutality and terror by Indian armed forces and militants alike. The director says, "the prequel to this film "Inshallah, football" was banned by the Indian censor board last year*, this time all Indian citizens can watch the film free of charge on our Republic Day via the internet." There are half-a-million troops in Kashmir that belong to various branches of Indian armed forces, each with its own intelligence agency that closely monitors the flow of information. Army camps and check-posts mean scrutiny and explanations, making the shortest commute a daunting task. Kashmiris don't speaking openly, fearing harassment and persecution. In this atmosphere of suspicion and vigilance, shooting a film that seeks truthful testimonies is daunting. As a result, the enormity of the situation in Kashmir has been kept hidden. Only a handful of people in India and the rest of the world are aware of the extent of an alleged genocide, and human rights violations that continue till today. 'Inshallah, Kashmir : Living Terror', is one of those rare documentary films in which Kashmiris tell their stories openly. In it we see how freedom is conceded, and replaced by fear; governance, by institutionalized oppression; and a paradise made desolate on the watch of India: a secular, democratic republic. "As the Indian national flag is unfurled in New Delhi and Srinagar, viewers of "Inshallah, Kashmir" might reflect on the health of Indian democracy via the internet." *After a media outcry protesting the ban, 'Inshallah, football' was given an 'A' certificate in June 2011. The film was finally released on DVD by Enlighten Films in late December 2011, more than a year after its release in the rest of the world. It can now be purchased in select DVD stores all over India.

ONLINE RELEASE ON THE INDIAN REPUBLIC DAY On 18th January, 2012 Alipur Films uploaded the first seven minutes of the film Inshallah Kashmir : Living Terror online. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter picked it up and the link had over ten thousand hits in a week and generated curiosity and contempt alike. The idea of releasing Inshallah Kashmir online and free of charge was to take the film to the masses, and to make it accessible to as many people as possible – in Kashmir, within India and around the world. In what was possibly a first, the fill film went online on the Indian Republic Day and had over fifteen thousand hits that day. Director Ashvin Kumar said, “One was to get around the censor board. Secondly, and more importantly, I wanted to make it truly democratic so that people would not have to pay to watch it.”

CREDITS: Director and Narrator: Ashvin Kumar Co-producer: Jaaved Jaafferi Associate Producer: Giulia Achilli Editor: Ashvin Kumar Associate Editor: Yashodara Udupa Assistant Editor: Aditi Joshi Camera: Ashvin Kumar, Shivraj Santhakumar Music performed by: Sajad Bin Mohammad Sound recordists: Roland Heap, Udit Duseja Sound editor: Nora Wendel Text quotations from: Agha Shahid Ali ‘The Country without a Post Office’, Basharat Peer ‘Curfewed Night’, Nitasha Kaul ‘Kashmir: A place of blood and memory’ Kashmir Research Consultants: Mohammad Umar Baba, Wasim Khalid Kashmiri Translators: Ajaz Kotroo, Muhammad Gowhar Bhat Special thanks: Neil Sadwelkar, Dheights studio Interviews with: Sajad Malik, Parvez Ahmed, Khemlata Wakhloo, O.N. Wakhloo, Shameena Bano Baba, Bashir Baba, Omar Abdullah, Abdul Hamid, Wajahat Habibullah, Parveena Ahangar, Zahoor Ahmed Hajam, Haseena, Bashir Ahmed’s family, Sameera Begum, Dr. Amit Wanchoo, Abdul Qadeer Dar, Manzoor, Ghulam Mansoor, Parvez Khurram, Vrinda Grover, Parvez Imroz, Zoona, Javed Pathan, Ghulam Mohd Pathan.

SYNOPSIS: A Kashmiri poet has said of the Indian occupation of Kashmir, “they make a desolation and call it peace.” Once the epitome of a syncretic, mystical culture, a deep heritage of learning, of arts and craft; the crucible of Buddhism, Hinduism and Sufi-Islam; verdant forests, snow-capped peaks, populated by a guileless, beautiful people; till the dark cloud of terror enveloped the Kashmir valley overnight. This film is the story of the conflict recounted as personal history, and that of present-day Kashmir. A series of counterpointed testimonies, the heartbreaking coming-of-age of a people brutalized by two decades of militancy and its terrible response. Together they provide a sense of what it is like to be living terror and the irony of living with terror under the watch of a secular, democratic republic, India. Today Kashmir is all about army, crackdowns, curfews, widows, orphans, rape, enforced disappearances, fakeencounters, mass graves, sadistic torture and trauma, and new categories of people like 'half-widows'. Twenty years of atrocities have altered the average Kashmiri’s perception of ‘normalcy’. And yet, there isn't a more congenial, generous, warm-hearted and cultured individual than she. So, military and paradise, bulletproof jackets and the veil; breathtaking vistas of mountains and crystal lakes are projected through barbed wire. Darkened army bunkers, the alert eyes of battle-ready soldiers watch over not an enemy or a border but school children, women going shopping, men delivering goods. And the certainty of yet another militant attack, blood, limbs, followed by reprisals by the armed forces. Such is the state of ‘normalcy’ into which children are born and raised. A cycle institutionalized and ritualized since the advent of militancy in 1991. The filmmakers were able to record rare and precious footage under the guise of making a movie on Kashmiri football (www.inshallahfootball.com). The rare, unmediated access has resulted in footage that very few people have managed to record. It gives a human face to militancy and the plight of the average Kashmiri. It demands a solution to this endless and mindless conflict. This is the story of Indian democracy, the grand experiment that was founded with Indian independence from the British. Of how it has been tested in Kashmir, and found wanting. ‘Inshallah Kashmir : Living Terror’ answers comprehensively the question, often asked in exasperation by those who live in the rest-of-India, ‘what the hell is it that the Kashmiris want?’

PRESS - INSHALLAH KASHMIR: LIVING TERROR January 18, 2012 http://www.imdb.com/news/ni21322724/ http://moifightclub.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/votd-7-minutes-of-ashvin-kumars-inshallahkashmir-living-terror/ http://madaboutmoviez.com/2012/01/18/preview-watch-the-first-7-minutes-of-ashvin-kumarsinshallah-kashmir-living-terror/#more-3704 January 19, 2012 http://dearcinema.com/news/inshallah-football-directors-next-to-release-online-to-avoidcensorship/3226 http://lov-3.net/inshallah-football-director%E2%80%99s-next-to-release-online-to-avoidcensorship/ January 20, 2012 http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/ashvin-comes-with-inshallah-kashmir-21063.aspx January 21, 2012 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Bypassing-censorboard-film-on-Kashmir-releasing-on-Jan-26/articleshow/11566828.cms

http://heartcommand.com/why-the-censor-bored/ http://www.stateobserver.com/newsdet.aspx?q=18000 http://www.kashmirtimes.com/news.aspx?ndid=26688 January 22, 2012 http://www.firstpost.com/india/who-cares-for-the-censor-board-when-theres-youtube189981.html January 23, 2012 http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/82/201201222012012202011517836c5e5c9/Censorsensibility.html?pageno=1 http://blog.thekashmirwalla.com/2012/01/inshallah-kashmir-living-terror-preview-the-firstseven-minutes/ January 25, 2012 (review) http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws250112Going.asp (review) http://kashmiroralhistoryinitiative.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/inshallah-kashmir-livingterror-voices-from-a-lost-valley/ January 26, 2012 http://kashmirwatch.com/news.php/2012/01/26/8216-inshallah-kashmir-8217-to-go-online.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Director-tobypass-censor-board-release-film-on-Kashmir-online-today/articleshow/11635523.cms http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_is-this-what-we-call-democracy_1642515 January 27, 2012 http://ibnlive.in.com/news/watch-full-length-inshallah-kashmir/224781-8-66.html http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/ENT-watch-inshallah-kashmir-full-movie-2793450.html http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/3469/video_inshallah_kashmir_living/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/27/kashmir-movie-triggers-new-controversy/ http://www.indiantelevision.com/aac/y2k12/aac125.php January 29, 2012 http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/filmmaker-circumvents-censor-board-releases-film-onkashmir-online/222382

January 31, 2012 http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-9-oclock-news/why-is-kashmir-a-volatiletopic/222593?hp http://www.timesnow.tv/Debate-Controversy-over-film-on-Kashmir-1/videoshow/4394886.cms February 4, 2012 http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/newswallah-bollywood-edition-11/ http://www.thekashmirwalla.com/2012/02/jashn-e-azadi-inshallah-kashmir-and-now-harud/ February 6, 2012 http://www.sunday-guardian.com/masala-art/gagged-a-bound-films-on-kashmir-fight-their-ownwars February 19, 2012 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Banned-works-ata-computer-near-you/articleshow/11949307.cms February 23, 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2924231.ece March 18, 2012 http://www.mid-day.com/lifestyle/2012/mar/180312-Click-Play-Watch.htm GET IN TOUCH: Website: www.ashvinkumar.com www.inshallahkashmir.com Twitter: @ashvinkumar Facebook: www.facebook.com/inshallahkashmir Email: [email protected] Phone: +91-8806664754