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‘I had a multi-cultural crew, with 52 per cent women – a rarity in America. Its lead protagonist is an Aramean actress. There were Latinos, Kurds, Blacks and people of all colour – many with memories and baggage of oppressed histories from their region. And I could see the magic it was creating cross-border connections with a Kashmiri story’
Six-minute read
By Anuradha Bhasin
Sometime in the July of 2003, Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, a noted singer of Kashmir whose voice was like silk wrapped in velvet, mysteriously disappeared while traveling with his daughter on a train from Jammu to Delhi. The family alleged it was a case of enforced disappearance and killing by the Punjab Police, which claimed that the singer had accidentally fallen off the train and died.
Police said they cremated him within ten hours of finding his body, in defiance of set protocols, which raised suspicion about their role. For his family who pursued the battle for knowing the truth and justice in court, with prolonged litigation that was lost over the years, there was no closure.
His son, Arfat Sheikh, was 16 years then. “We felt powerless and robbed of agency,” he says looking back. Almost 22 years later, he is back with an artistic vengeance to reclaim that agency and have the power to tell his story with his debut feature film Saffron Kingdom.
The yet-to-be-released film is not the story of Ghulam Nabi Sheikh but that of Kashmir’s collective trauma under military jackboots.
Sitting at a café, and sipping coffee, the bespectacled Arfat says, “I was too young to understand much then and a few years later I left Kashmir to pursue higher education. Despite my father’s chilling disappearance and the denial of justice, I was still living in a bubble – secluded from the reality of Kashmir.”
“It was later when I came back to Kashmir to make documentaries for an NGO that I traveled across Kashmir and heard horrifying stories of pain, trauma, and suffering. The scale overwhelmed me,” he goes on. The accumulated weight of constant smaller traumas and violations churned something inside him, rekindling not just the memory of his lost father but also a fire in his belly to narrate a story of Kashmir that resonates with tens of thousands of its people.
In 2019, he took a small step towards that journey by enrolling for a Master’s in filmmaking in Atlanta, United States. Ironically, he got his visa from the US embassy the day the BJP government in India stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy, cleaved it into two union territories and placed it under unprecedented severe restrictions. While the region turned into a prison inside out, he found the opportunity to finally find the language and form to talk about its tragedy to the world.
Five years later, he is ready to showcase it with the release of his debut film.
Produced, written and directed by Arfat Sheikh under the banner of Daffodil Studio, Saffron Kingdom follows a Kashmiri-American family’s story of trauma and displacement. The narrative centres around Masrat, a woman who flees Kashmir with her son Rizwan after her husband is abducted by the Indian army and disappears in custody. The film explores their life as they rebuild it in Atlanta while processing the trauma of insurgency, forced displacement, and the 2019 revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy.
The film also invokes the poignant memory of the Gawkadal massacre of 1990 and weaves together a painful kaleidoscope of abuse, harassment, detentions, disappearances and murders amidst the bloody turmoil.
The filmmaker says there are layers of meaning in the title. Saffron Kingdom beautifully encapsulates the rich heritage of Kashmir, symbolised by its renowned saffron cultivation and also challenges the politicised narratives often imposed on the region. The play of words being on ‘Saffron’ that is also symbolically used for India’s ruling party – BJP.
Shot primarily in Atlanta with a diverse cast, none of whom are Kashmiri speakers, the film aims to highlight the resilience of Kashmiri people while exploring the intergenerational impact of the armed conflict.
“There is no way I could have made this film in today’s Kashmir,” Arfat says, talking about the repressive climate in the region. “I knew I had to do it in the US, and I had to creatively think of recreating Kashmir-like landscapes, including saffron fields and its culture.
Though artistically and cinematically top class, as some of the available clips of the film reveal, the dialogues with some phrases of Kashmiri thrown in make it difficult to relate to the project as Kashmiri. The characters speak English in American accent and labour to get their Kashmiri right.
Arfat admits the drawback and explains, “Initially, I wanted to cast Kashmiri-speaking actors, but the Kashmiri diaspora is too scared to associate with a project like this. Some agreed but backed out later.”
He pauses and adds, flailing his hands, “So I thought of making it a fully international project and that was an additional achievement.”
His voice rises with mounting excitement as he describes how the setback transformed into an unexpected opportunity. The pitch of his enthusiasm reaches such heights that nearby people in the cafe turn to look at our table. Catching himself, he offers a sheepish smile and an apology and continues in more measured tones.
“I had a multi-cultural crew, with 52 per cent women – a rarity in America. Its lead protagonist is an Aramean actress. There were Latinos, Kurds, Blacks and people of all colour – many with memories and baggage of oppressed histories from their region. And I could see the magic it was creating making cross-border connections with a Kashmiri story,” he says.
“Eventually,” he says, with a sign of confidence, “I feel I made a bigger project than I set out to make. My film is truly international – meant for an international audience and creates these unprecedented connections”.
Could the film have used Kashmiri voice dubbing to overcome the language barriers?
Arfat disagrees. That was an artistic decision, he had to take and adds, “it would have been disrespect to the people who had been part of the film and their contribution. They were stakeholders in the project, and I couldn’t exclude them.”
When the curtains finally go up on the film, how will a larger audience spanning continents, from Kashmir to the United States, react remains to be seen? As of now, the film has already received much recognition and traction.
It was selected for the Rome International Film Festival 2024, ARRF Berlin International Film Festival, and Florida South Asia Film Festival. It was a semi-finalist at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival and Chicago Filmmakers’ Awards. It was a winner at the LA Film & Documentary Awards and Wake Forest Film Festival. It has been nominated at the London Director Awards.
It is slated for release likely in April, 2025.
Pictures Courtesy: Instagram handle of Saffronkingdomfilm
Second Picture: Kashmir Times
Courtesy: Kashmirtimes.com