Paradise on earth
I watched Yahaan last weekend (while everybody was watching The Rising, but that's another story). Yahaan's set in Srinagar, the entire story, not just songs. There were exactly three shots of the Dal, none of the gardens, none of Pari Mahal. Instead they showed the city; in one shot the heroine boards a bus, it's a busy street cars all around and I was startled because it looked so much like a city. Any city.
And I realised that when I think of Srinagar it's never as a city. It's usually a beautiful shot of people dancing around the Dal, or in Shalimar or Gulmarg. I don't remember much from my two trips in '89, so Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor and Joy Mukherjee are my only points of refernce.
I've forgotten it. Or maybe I just preferred to ignore it, because I didn't want to sully its beauty by picturing all that violence.
It's a good movie to watch, it reminds you that Srinagar's our city too.
And I realised that when I think of Srinagar it's never as a city. It's usually a beautiful shot of people dancing around the Dal, or in Shalimar or Gulmarg. I don't remember much from my two trips in '89, so Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor and Joy Mukherjee are my only points of refernce.
I've forgotten it. Or maybe I just preferred to ignore it, because I didn't want to sully its beauty by picturing all that violence.
It's a good movie to watch, it reminds you that Srinagar's our city too.
posted by i wonder why at 2:22 pm
4 Comments:
yes, yes, yes. your birthplace, no less.
Haven't seen Yahaan yet - has gone from our halls, i think - will try to, somehow.
Plan to watch The Rising which is playing in Cardiff. Problem is, it's only playing on weekdays, and that too only till Thursday night!
Weren't you named after the greenery there?
My only trip to Srinagar was in the autumn of 1998. The chinars were already aflame and the Dal its usual placid self, though choking on a web of weeds. We stayed at this quiet hotel on the boulevard, facing the Dal. There on a fashion shoot with model, photographer and stylist, I don't think I ever saw the city either.
As we trotted from one scenic spot to another (all the usual suspects)for the photo shoot, I remember convoys of armoured vehicles with mounted guns and a particular regiment of the army that chose to exercise in the vacant lot nextdoor at daybreak. we were chaperoned by an old uncle type from the JK tourism dept. who very skilfully ensured that we didn't get to see anything we should not.
There'd be sudden, unexpected hold-ups along the way and the traffic would summarily be waved on to another road. Later discovered that those were spots where trouble had erupted - either literally in the form of a bomb or metaphorically in the shape of a miscreants.
I don't remember seeing the city either. I saw all its cold beauty but hardly any people leading normal lives. Even Shammi Kapoor would have found it too gloomy to sing Tareef karoon kya uski jisne tumhe banaya.... That is, of course, assuming he would have got a chance to set eyes on a Kasmiri beauty in the first place.
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