In 1985, Ajay Raina moved to Mumbai from Srinagar, where he had been born, raised and educated. Two years later, he was at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, training to be a director. His ambition was to make films in Kashmiri and about Kashmir. He had even obtained the rights to a short story that he hoped to turn into a feature.
In 1989, Raina’s brother and sister-in-law landed up at his college hostel. Over the next several months, the rest of his family followed suit. They were among the tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits fleeing home.
One of the tragic consequences of the movement for Kashmiri self-determination was the targeting of Kashmiri Hindus, a minority group in a Muslim-majority state. Many of them fled never to return home or even being able to visit the Valley for fear of being attacked. A spate of recent killings of the Kashmiri Pandits who remain in the Valley has reiterated their continued vulnerability.
For Ajay Raina, 1989 and 1990 were the defining years. “That was my first encounter with the idea of the exodus,” Rania told Scroll.in. “I didn’t have to leave myself, but my issue was that I couldn’t go back. All those [filmmaking]…
