Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan is a known theatre activist and film personality of Kashmir valley who has devoted himself for the upliftment of theatre in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2017 Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan, took an initiative of establishing the ‘KASHMIR WORLD FILM FESTIVAL’ (KWFF). Till date four editions of ‘Kashmir World Film Festival’ have been successfully organised and this year 5th edition is going to be held on a much larger scale.
The primary purpose behind the initiative is screening of world class films from all over the Globe in Kashmir for the entertainment of general masses especially the youth and secondly to provide an international platform to the filmmakers of valley and moreover to evolve a tendency of film watching in the valley.
Amid the prevailing circumstances, this KWFF festival is a silver lining. With no cinema halls in Kashmir, cinema lovers perceive this film festival as a ray of hope. The KWFF festival has been getting an overwhelming response from all age groups of Kashmir
In the previous screened editions the KWFF festival has received more of three hundred twenty five films that included films from fourteen countries like, USA, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, Poland, Turkey, Korea, Nepal, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Bangladesh, etc. The festival also had participating films from different parts of India in different languages like English, Bengali, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujrati, Tibetan, Assamese, Hindi, Urdu, Dogri, Ladakhi, and Kashmiri.
So far 31 (thirty one) films from abroad and India have been awarded. The number of people who attended the festival so far has been more than 12500, mostly of them youth.
The Advisory Board formed for the Festival include the film personalities like, Subhash Ghai, Santosh Sivan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Rajit Kapur, Anjum Rajabali, Arunaraje Patil, Ashok Kaul, Pankaj Saxena, Rahul Mitra, Raj Bansal and Komal Nahata.
The festival has got a continuous support from the prestigious film organisations like Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune, National Film Archives of India (NFAI) Pune, Films Division (FD) Mumbai, Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI) Mumbai, and Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) New Delhi.
For the forthcoming edition the festival organisers are expecting some of the popular film personalities / celebrities from Indian film industry like, Aamir Khan, Tabu, Hema Malini, Randhir Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Santosh Sivan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Raj Kumar Hirani, Bhagyashree, Manoj Bajpai, Vijay Raaz, Dipti Naval, Mukesh Rishi, Shahnaz Gill, Kirti Kulhari and others.
Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan strongly believes in the dictum “The show must go on”. He has a desire to share the experience of world class cinema with the people of Kashmir, especially the youth and at the same time provide a platform for the filmmakers of the Valley. He is defying all odds to bring World Class films to the valley. He wants to make Kashmir also known by the ‘Kashmir World Film Festival’ and wants to make this festival one among the top ten International Film Festivals of the world.
He is one of the leading filmmakers of Kashmir and for the last more than three decades has been awarded honour and felicitation from time to time by a number of prestigious Govt. and Non Govt. organizations / associations for his contribution in the field of film making and theatre. He has wholeheartedly dedicated more than four decades of his life in working as an actor / producer / director for Theatre, Radio and Television. He has also successfully organized about ten theatre festivals in the capacity of festival director.
He is a devoted cultural activist of Kashmir and has been contributing much towards the preservation and promotion of art, culture, films and literature.
Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan, the director of Kashmir World Film Festival told KPS that “I am very much overwhelmed with the response of the people of Kashmir, especially the youth. We intend to make this festival a regular feature in Kashmir in the ages to come. It is an attempt to reclaim the valley’s lost cinema culture.” With regard to announcement of dates for organising Kashmir World Film Festival, he said “We are doing preparations for the festival to be held in the month of July / August 2022.”
Mushtaaque Ali Ahmad Khan further said “I am thankful to the print and electronic media for their extraordinary support at local, National level and also at the International level.”
Comments are closed.