Mapping a violent mind

Amarjot Kaur

Embroidered with innocuous, yet pertinent questions of an inquisitive young boy from the Bakarwal community in upper Jammu & Kashmir area, the forthcoming film Karim Mohammed weaves the issue of terrorism in a compelling tale. 

Yashpal Sharma, who plays the lead role in the film, narrates the core of its construct, “The film toes the line of meaningful cinema. It delves into the mind of a terrorist through conversations between a father and a son. Neither does it assert the stereotype of Muslim identity, nor does it promote violence. It’s a social drama with a message.”

Director’s cut

A pass-out from the National School of Drama, Pawan Kumar Sharma speaks of Karim Mohammed with unquenchable fervency. This is his second directorial project, after Brina, a film on polyandry, which received several international awards at film festivals but failed to enter the mainstream Indian cinema. To Pawan, a ‘U’ certificate for Karim Mohammed brings a sigh of relief. He says that a nine or ten-year-old incident, which was widely reported in local media, had inspired him to make the film. 

“In Chamba, militants had killed some labourers and it was brought to the police’s notice by 13-year-old girl. She had walked 23 km to inform the police about that incident,” he says. 

Of quick decisions 

Impelled by the story, he decided to direct Karim Mohammed a year ago and requested Yashpal’s participation in his new project as its main character. “Soon after doing a cameo in Brina, I had solicited the script of Karim Mohammed from Pawan when he told me about it. After reading the script, I impetuously decided to essay this role; I’d be a fool to have declined such an offer. In fact, this role has been the most satisfying one, in 20 years of my acting career. There was another such gratifying role I did in a film called Das Kapital which never released,” Yashpal shares.

Why so curious?  

Pawan adds, “Provoked by the curiosity of an innocent child who constantly questions his father about religion, people, society and terrorism, the film takes you to the picturesque locales of Kashmir, even though it has been shot in Janjehli valley of Himachal Pradesh.” He did not want this one to be a big-budget film and therefore cast actors, and not superstars. “I have a responsibility towards society, as a filmmaker. I don’t want to make saas-bahu tv sagas and stuff. I do, however, want to make meaningful cinema. That’s all I am attempting at with this film and it is a low-budget film. I wanted actors, not superstars for this one,” he says while sharing that the film fosters the spirit of patriotism and humanism and they are planning to take it to the ministry of education for it to be screened in schools.

Karim Mohammed releases on August 24.

Entertaining trivia

• The film, Karim Mohammed, ran into controversy because of its name and the makers had to stop its shooting in Kashmir after a two-day long sojourn in the Valley. The film was finally shot in Himachal’s Janjehli valley. 
• Yashpal, who has often pushed the envelope with his realistic roles, didn’t change his clothes for 20 days to look like a ‘Bakarwal’. He did a through, month-long research on the community and its people’s culture.
• You’ll soon see Yashpal in a Jimmy Shergil and Yuvika Chadha’ starrer film. He has almost done shooting for Mr Paanwala in which he plays an important role and you will see him act in another Bollywood venture: Falgun Hawayein.