Kashmir's portrayal in Bollywood 'not real': Kashmiri filmmaker

Emphasising that his debut film "Partav (The Influence)" highlights the story rather than the scenic beauty of Kashmir, filmmaker Dilnawaz Muntazir says the portrayal of the Kashmir Valley in most of the Bollywood films is "not real".

His Kashmiri language film focuses on the life of a professor who abandons everything except his love for literary works. The movie had its world premiere at the 19th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF).

"As a filmmaker, my focus was to promote the culture, art and life of Kashmir. In most of the Bollywood films, which show a slice of Kashmir, the things portrayed are not real things," Muntazir, who is also from the valley, said here Wednesday.

"Our focus is on the story and not on the scenic beauty of Kashmir. For me, the story of the film is more important as stories of people matter the most," he added.

Breaking barriers to revive Kashmiri cinema despite budget constraints, the director called for a government initiative to solve the issue.

"Movies are banned in Kashmir for almost 20 years, but it is available in Jammu. Most of the people from Kashmir travel to Jammu and for security reasons we cannot release a movie in an open air. However, the main setback remains the finance. We need to have a government policy to solve the issue," he said, adding that his next venture will be a semi-commercial film in Hindi.