Artists Protest Lack Of Kashmir Coverage By DD

SRINAGAR Scores of local Kashmiri artists on Monday staged a protest against over lack of coverage to Kashmiri programmes on the Doordarshan (DD) Kashir channel. The protesting artists included freelance producers, directors, actors, singers and other persons affiliated with the production work. The artists, who are affiliated with Doordarshan from decades, said that there is a deliberate onslaught on Kashmir language as well as on their livelihood as Prasar Bharti is not producing any Kashmiri programmes for which the channel was created.

The channel, they said, has been turned into a platform for flop Bollywood movies with no entertainment content for the Kashmiris.

The channel was launched in 2000 by former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. The aim was to cater to the Kashmiri population and also to promote local talent. Unfortunately, we artists have not been given any opportunity to work from a decade now, said Shahzad Rasool, a freelance producer.

He said the irony was that the channel has been turned into a money minting machine for Mumbai-based producers whose flop movies are run at prime time while local artists suffer.

The artists said that the payments for the work they had done over the years for DD Kashir is also pending.

Ajaz Rah, a renowned singer and actor, said the channel has not produced a single local programme in native Kashmir language for years now.

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They run decade-old stuff and are filling the airtime with Hindi movies. I myself made many Kashmir serials for which I am yet to receive the payment. We simply want DD Kashir to work the way other regional channels are working. There is nothing Kashur in Kashir channel, Rah said, adding we are losing our culture as well as our identity.

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