Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: India’s Hindi film industry, the Bollywood has opened its arms to the all-girl rock band of Kashmir which caused an outrage in radical sections of the Muslim-majority valley.
The band, comprising three school girls, disbanded after abusive comments on the Facebook and also a reproof from the grand mufti of Kashmir, Basheeruddin Ahmed.
The police on Tuesday have registered an FIR and are looking or those who posted intimidating comments on the facebook.
“Yes we have registered a case. We will identify them through their IP addresses,” the district police chief of Srinagar, Ashiq Bukhari told this reporter.
This has been done on the instructions of the chief minister Omar Abdullah. Mr Abdullah’s tweet in support of the band has, however, failed to infuse confidence among the girls who have virtually gone into hiding.
Now Bollywood has offered them support. A well known composer, Vishal Dadlani has made an impassioned appeal to the girls not to give up.
“Please don’t stop making music due to the fear of some random lunatics. It is our duty as custodians of our talent to reach people, and to sing stories of the human soul,” Mr Dadlani has said in a post on the band’s Facebook page.
The maestro, who is also the lead vocalist of Pentagram, an electro-rock band, has told the girls that “I would like to provide travel and accommodation to and in Mumbai, studio time and all costs relating to recording, releasing and promoting an album of your music.”
This would be a major break for any budding artist more so for young girls who have learned music for six months. But the Kashmir girls are too scared.
The instant reaction from the lead vocalist of the band, Ms Noma, was “I won’t even give a thought to it.”
The band kicked off a controversy soon after it took part in a music competition ‘Battle of Bands’ in Srinagar last December.
Its Facebook page was filled with invectives and vitriolic comments. However, the girls initially put up a bold face and denied reports that they had quit.
Then came the so called ‘Fatwa’ or decree from the Grand Mufti and a reproof from a couple of separatists, which was perhaps a reaction to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s tweet in support of the band.
The Kashmir society at large is indifferent to the whole controversy which is confined mostly to the media. Even the Grand Mufti has drawn flak from many people for coming out against the girls.
A prominent journalist, Rashid Ahmed says the controversy around the Pragaash group is aimed at “distorting the image of a liberal Kashmir society”.
He says the Grand Mufti has singled out the rock band for his criticism while shutting his eyes to Kashmir’s male and female singers, who have been performing on and off stage for decades.
Female singers like Raj Begum, Zoon Begum, Haseena Akhtar and now the union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s wife, Shameema Dev are among the icons of music industry in Kashmir.
(Translated from BBC Hindi)
