Sharing moments

In the city to conduct a course at the Film and Television Institute of India,Bhatt,who is a National School of Drama (NSD) and London Academy of Music Drama and Arts (LAMDA) alumnus,says that writing the script for the film Lamhaa was like reopening old wounds that had long been buried and lost. “It’s like the saying,’Old sins have long shadows’,” he says with a wry smile,adding,“Kashmir has been in the eye of a storm ever since the state merged with India. And even though on a macro level there is a lot of political jingoism about how the state is an integral part of the country,I honestly believe that a lot of people are not interested in the state and the affairs of Kashmir.”

For Bhatt,himself a Kashmiri,writing the story was a very personal experience. “I had heard that Rahul Dholakia was making a film and was looking out for new actors. When I went there to speak to him about the role,I was already doing some research on a project – Milit Karau on Kashmir – that a friend was working on. Eventually,however,Rahul and I got talking and he asked me to work on the script as he liked the research that I had done on Kashmir. That’s how Lamhaa happened.” Bhatt however has no qualms about the movie not doing too well. “Isn’t it obvious that until and unless the audiences start understanding the problems there on a micro level,there is not much that can be done?” he says.

Bhatt still maintains that his first love is acting. “It is very relaxing. I devote most of my time to the Theatre Garage Project,which is in Mussourie. Actors come there to quietly practice their acting and also share and exchange information. A lot of quality work is done through the project. I’ve been working on it since 2007,and we hope to expand it to a place where artistes can come and stay for longer durations and work accordingly.”

Bhatt is also working on the Red Nose Clowning Technique and is one of the few actors across the country,as he puts it,who is championing its cause. “It is one of the few techniques that really help an actor to grow. The methods of mime and clowning deal with learning how to correctly portray one’s expressions while acting. It is one of my pet projects and I hope to implement it on a bigger scale soon,” he adds.