Ashvin Kumar’s film No Fathers In Kashmir has been appreciated and loved at the different film festivals around the world but the Censor Board did not approve of the film till it recently when they gave the film a U/A certificate. The film was earlier banned by the Censor Board as they felt the film promoted nudity, violence and hatred! (Seriously? Then it’s time they censored the newspapers and news on television too!).The makers had challenged their decision and approached the FCAT in November.
The film will finally see the light when it releases on 5 April. No Fathers In Kashmir is a story about a British Kashmiri teenager, Noor,(Zara Webb), who comes back to Kashmir in search of her missing father. She takes the help of a local Kashmiri boy,Majid (Shivan Raina),and the two go off to the Indo-Pak border. They are caught and arrested. While they let Noor off as she is a British, Majid is held back by the authorities. The trailer of the film looks intense and the young actors seem to have done a brilliant job.
The film is a harsh yet beautiful insight into the plight of women who are half-widows, whose husbands have not yet been declared dead but have mysteriously disappeared. The film also stars Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Soni Razdan, Anshuman Jha and Maya Sarao in pivotal roles.
At the trailer launch of the film today Mahesh Bhatt spoke about all the trouble the film faced at the hands of the Censor Board. He said, “It’s a tragedy that a film like No Fathers In Kashmir, a filmmaker who puts his film together, and run from pillar to post begged people to get it through. In this age and time, is there anything called censorship? I have the audacity to look at the truth, the greatest epic which mankind has been blessed with, the Mahabharata came from the battle of Kurukshetra, in that moment of darkness, he who locks the eyes with the darkness discovers a life which Ashvin has discovered.”
Image Credit: Htsyndication.com
While his wife, the talented actress Soni Razdan spoke about how actors are trolled for speaking out about issues that are related to national importance or interest. It’s sad but true that actors and celebrities face the most trolls even if they are speaking and not speaking about matters of national importance! “It is a very common thing that actors are trolled today. What people do not understand is that actors don’t select films based on their patriotic feelings. It just is a coincidence that a certain film related to an issue might come their way and they get involved in it. I feel, if I criticize my country, it’s not because I don’t like my country, I love my country. That is my patriotism. I want to make it a better place for my children for everyone. And if we don’t look at what’s in front of us, and we allow things to get out of hand because of other vested interests. Then as citizens are not doing a good job. Forget being an actor-director, we as citizens have the responsibility to make the country a better place. And that doesn’t mean advertising other people’s agendas it means looking at what is wrong and making it right,” stated Soni. She also said that actors alone are not responsible for making our society a better place, it is the responsibility of every citizen of the country! We couldn’t agree with her more.
Earlier when the film was facing issues with the Censor Board, Alia Bhatt too had tweeted “Was soo looking forward to mom’s @nofathers_movie #nofathersinkashmir!! @Soni_Razdan @ashvinkumar & team worked super hard for this honest teens love story in Kashmir. Really hope the CBFC would #lifttheban. It’s a film about empathy & compassion..let’s give love a chance.”
Now that the film is finally releasing; All izz well, that ends well!
