A documentary that I co-directed, edited and produced, Raqs-e-Inquilab (English title: Art in a Time of Conflict), which premiered at the South Asian Short Film Festival in Kolkata earlier this year is now live on YouTube through Journeyman Pictures, one of the world’s leading distributors of original documentaries.
Raqs-e-Inquilab interweaves the personal narratives of four Kashmiri artists, three of whom – Syed Mujtaba Rizvi, Hina Arif and Zeeshan Jaipuri – are children of the conflict, their impressionable adoloscent years years landing right in the middle of the region’s most violent period in the 90s. The fourth character, renowned painter and art teacher Masood Hussain, grew up in a time of relative peace before becoming witness to Kashmir’s tragic transformation. While their individual traumas are unique, they are connected by their pursuit to process this splintered world through unfiltered artistic expression.
We're forever grateful to Masood sa’ab, Hina, Mujtaba and Zeeshan for trusting us with their stories, and to so many people - from Kashmir, Mumbai and Chennai - who helped us on this two-year journey to make the film and put it out.
Hope you like the film.
FILM CREDITS Directed and Produced by Niyantha Shekar and Mukti Krishan. Co-produced by Anirudh Ganapathy and Charudatta Rane. Cinematography by Anirudh Ganapathy. Edited by Niyantha Shekar. Additional Cinematography by Azaan Shah, Charudatta Rane and Mukti Krishan. Sound Design by Dinesh Yuvi. Colour Grade by Kabir Nagranee. Online Edit by Mukti Krishan. Graphics by Zenish Mehta and Mukti Krishan. Archival footage and photographs from Umar Mehraj. Poster Design by Anirudh Ganapathy.