One doesn’t really associate a serious term as “documentary” with funny man Javed Jafferi. But the maverick that he is, Javed is known for the surprises he throws at us from time to time. After acting, dancing, music, scriptwriting and production, the showman is now trying his hand at documentaries and his newfound initiative, Indian Documentary Foundation is meant to boost this underrated area of cinema. “People here look down upon documentaries. We are so immersed in escapist fiction that we tend to cut off from reality. In India itself there is so much happening all the time — we can’t just turn a blind eye to such things. I’m not saying we should stop making fun movies, but one needs to balance it out with reality. It’s important to raise an awareness among the youth and that’s what IDF is aiming at,” says Javed.
Inshallah Football, a documentary that he co-produced and funded, just won the National Award for the best documentary film. Ironically, the film, which tells the story of two Kashmiri boys trying to make a career in football, was initially banned by the government because of its “controversial” content. Javed says, “It’s a story about a Brazilian couple who set up a football club in Kashmir to train local kids. Two boys get selected for a grant to go to Spain and train, but one of them, who’s the captain of the team, is denied a passport, as his father is an ex-militant.”
Even though the film managed to bag a national honour, the rampant red-tapism of the country doesn’t agree with Javed. “We call ourselves a democracy, but on many levels we are not and we know that,” he says.