Today Oscar nominated filmmaker Ashvin Kumar won a National Award for Best Investigative Film for Inshallah, Kashmir. This is his second National Award. His first win, for Best Film On Social Issues, was in 2012 for Inshallah, Football, his first film on Kashmir, which was followed by Inshallah, Kashmir. Despite two National Awards Kumar has still not been able to show his films in Srinagar. The film has now been made available to the public for free viewing and therefore a one of its kind opportunity for it to reach a wider audience in Kashmir.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE:

I made this film to throw light on the deep distrust and misconception of the Kashmiri and his aspirations for self-governance, as well as highlight the unacceptable, institutional abuse of individual human rights in the valley. The film questions the legitimacy and human cost of sustaining India’s occupation of Kashmir for over two decades and it does so through the telling of stories of terror and fear that haunt ordinary Kashmiri folk.

The testimonies in this film are those that the mainstream media keeps away from its audiences in India. Till we Indians understand and acknowledge the pain and suffering of our Kashmiri brethren, and what is happening in the name of India in Kashmir, no solution can ever be found. We need to evolve a new idiom based on the reality of what has happened in the past twenty five years. I hope Inshallah, Kashmir provides one such reference point.