A Ballad of Maladies

Chance discovery of a song, a palpitating craft of storytelling, lure of the mystical valleys of Kashmir – it is hard to say which came when and how this project came about. Handcrafted over about 3 years of research and production in the heart and hinterlands of Kashmir valley, this documentary reintroduces Kashmir as a deeply militarised conflict zone departing from its orientalist stereotypes.

The tradition of oral and aural history in Kashmir is centuries old; such accounts often contradict with the official accounts of history recorded by the state. Incorporation of these historical accounts into musical art forms such as the 'Ladishah' is a unique folk indulgence of Kashmiris that dates back to the years when Kashmir was refereed to as 'Mini-Iran'. This discovery of people's history in the region's music lends a context to understand the emerging voices of resistance and their resonance in today's Indian-administered Kashmir. In the summer of 2010, a protest rap-song created and sung by a young Kashmiri boy broke the internet with cascading effects; he became nothing short of a legend in Kashmir as he continued to create a hip-hop revolution in the valley using the internet and his songs as a medium to narrate the region's local history to the world. Today he refers to himself as the 'Angrezi Ladishah' of Kashmir rooting for his history that goes back a thousand years.

As Indian filmmakers in Kashmir this film is not only our journey into the rich history and traditions of a conflicted region but also a process of shedding the baggages in our understanding of Kashmir's history and its complexities, which pre dates the creation of independent India and Pakistan in 1947.