Songs of Paradise — A Film Review

A very honest film — all heart!

Here is a film on Kashmir which is not about an Indian Hero and Pakistan Villan albeit about the illustrious culture and history of Kashmir which we have assumed never existed. This is a film as an ode to Kashmir as much as it is to the first female singer from the valley. A story of how post independence of India Kashmir was also evolving and founding its footing in the new age.

This golden chapter of the valley was missing from the current consciousness and hence becomes an important story to be told. What’s better than a Kashmiri telling their own story.

The film is about Zeba Akhtar who first finds courage to follow her dream rather than choosing the pain of letting things are they were. When she had to find the soul in her voice she turns inwards and ends up making her art and spiritual experience for herself and for the listeners. She eventually becomes the symbol of revolution. In one scene her fiance remarks “Inquilab ho tum to Zeba”. The film comes to a full circle when the same people who didn’t want her to follow her dreams, found pride in what she has become.

It made me reflect on how a human is born free till as a society we feel threatened and try to fit everyone in boxes that we are comfortable with. It makes monsters out of us. How can a mother who always wants the best of her daughter, ends up being on the other side of people that she loves?

Saba Azad is a masterful artist. There is not a single false note in her craft. She embodies Zeba Akhtar and lives her life with such honesty and simplicity that not for a minute you could believe that this is the same boisterous “Pipsy” from Rocket Boys. When she is behind the mic and sings in a scene, she owns the voice. It’s hers. Yes, her being a singer in real life helps. When she speaks she speaks like a Kashmiri — you would not believe her to be from anywhere else. Yes, her being a part Kashmiri helps. Every time I watch her perform, my respect for her increases.

This film doesn’t end until one knows all about Danish Renzu the writer and director of the film. In the film, he becomes the character of Taaruk Raina and says that “ Nobody was able to restore the lost recordings of the great Kashmiri Artists of the past. That is so because God has bestowed this honor upon me. “. He calls this out with a lot of humility and gratitude. These are not just tall words albeit his choice of films and initiatives he is taking to encourage local Kashmiri Youth with Renzu Music are testimony to his dedication. Most artists in the film have a Kashmiri connection, they speak in Kashmiri or with a deep Kashmiri accent in the film.

Even in the film, the music of the film is a character in itself. All the songs of the Raj Begum — The real singer on which this film is loosely based on — were recreated for this film. Hence giving them a place in the current culture that they rightfully deserve. Don’t trust me just listen to Dil Tsooran here and take a fair call. You can’t see this as just a film, it has a deep subtext to it.