Vikalp@Prithvi Screening of 'Inshallah, Football' on March 1 in Bombay
Chandni Parekh
Srinagar, the capital of
Kashmir.
Flicking his cigarette, Bashir gazes into the camera with eyes that have seen
worlds shattered: “I was petrified that he would lose sanity, follow my footsteps
and become a militant.”
Bashir Baba, a much-wanted leader of the armed group Hizbul Mujahideen has
given up the gun. When he left his home in Kashmir to join the training camps
in Pakistan in the early ‘90s, his son Basharat was two months old.
Basharat Baba belongs to a new generation of Kashmiris. He has grown up under
the shadow of a silent war.
Yet, within it, football is his passion and fuel. For the past three years,
another man of vital importance has made his presence felt in Basharat’s life.
Marcos, an Argentinean/Brazilian national, and a FIFA accredited football coach
by profession, is a most remarkable man who has made his home in this
paradoxical land. Marcos aspires to breed world class players from Kashmir.
Bridging great cultural distance, Marcos started a football academy called
ISAT; and an exchange program to Brazil for his most talented players.
Basharat is one of them, and his scholarship to play football in the land of
legendary Pele is a possibility that has fairy tale qualities for him.
The irony of it is that Basharat has been denied a passport by the Government
of India.
His crime?
That he was born the son of a militant.
His story questions India’s claim of being the largest democracy on this
planet.
Join us at the Vikalp@Prithvi Anniversary Screening of ‘Inshallah, Football’ by Oscar-Nominated Director Ashvin Kumar
On Tuesday, March 1 at 7 pm at Prithvi House, Bombay. Entry free.
The director will be present at the post-screening discussion.
More details will be sent in a reminder mail next week!
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126569567416707