Portraits of pain document loss
She didn’t really have a happy childhood and the gloom of those days translated into her photographs, and now her first documentary film Loss which tells the morbid story of pain and anguish. Jammu-born Saadiya Kochar completed her education in Delhi although she never went to a regular college.
As a child, Saadiya was an introvert. Therefore, she kept herself busy with all sorts of books. At 11, she was reading Osho and said bye to him only at 14 when she realised that she didn’t imbibe anything after spending hours with him. Though dancing remained a stress-buster for her.
While as an 18-year-old she wanted to be a director, her shy nature proved to be a hurdle. Then she picked up a camera and started to tell tales through photographs. “Photography proved therapeutic,” says Saadiya.
Her first book Being was released in 2003. There were a total of 40 nude images in the book. “Being showcased my journey in life. It dealt with questions of existence and I used the bare body to express the emotional upheavals we all go through. In the book, nude was not about sexuality or sensuality. They were the portraits of pain. I tried to portray the sad side of life through the positioning and expressions of my subjects.”
Few years after her first book, her brother passed away in a car accident. That shattered her and she stopped clicking photographs. “I went into a haze. I didn’t do anything for a year. Then in 2007 I went to Kashmir and since then I have been regularly going to Srinagar because I feel people there know what loss means. I can relate to them. They understand what I feel and vice versa.”
Saadiya is currently busy organising special screenings for her film Loss. Talking about Loss, Saadiya says, “The story begins with the woman’s visit to the valley of Kashmir in 2008. The plot revolves around three individual stories bound together by a common thread — loss. Each story rolls out and is told differently. The movie transcends different genres from pure documentation of the troubles in Kashmir, to the Kashmiri Pandits. It is part fiction and part autobiographical.”
She plans to screen Loss at The Gallery in Delhi to gauge the response before she applies for Censor Board’s approval. Since films on Kashmir are sharply scrutinised by the Censor Board, is she anxious? “Not at all. My film is not a figment of imagination. The film shows Kashmir as I see it as an outsider. And through my film, I just want to bring the plight of Kashmiris to everybody’s notice.”
Since almost the entire movie is made of stills, the images will be displayed at an exhibition in Lado Sarai, New Delhi from November 30 till January 10.
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