The homecoming

A still from the documentary, Ghar Ka Pata

Childhood is a key part of our lives. How did staying away from your home affect you?
I WAS about six when my family moved to Delhi, so I couldn't remember a lot about Kashmir. However, I realised that I was in an unfamiliar place, especially culturally. I knew there were differences, but I was too young to understand why things were the way they were. Even though I didn't feel any strong disconnect and adapted to the city pretty well, I still felt the changes. For example, every time I came home I knew I was going to eat different kinds of food, speak a different language, see my mother dress differently from other women; even the things we discussed at home were different. Now, when I look back at it, I understand the depth of
the situation.

How would you describe Ghar Ka Pata to our readers?
Ghar Ka Pata is largely about exile and memory. At a certain age, you realise you've always lived in exile, which means that you have never been able to go back to the place you actually belong. I struggled with a faint memory which I remember, but yet I couldn't place an image of my house in Kashmir. The film is a search for memory and an understanding of how uprooted one can feel by not having the choice to go back and make that childhood home, even in their memory.

Madhulika Jalali

After 24 years, what brought you back to Kashmir?
After 1990, the first time I visited Kashmir was in 2014, which was for a family holiday. Kashmir is a sensitive subject in my family, and even during the trip, when I asked my dad to show us our house, he refused. It hit me during the trip that everyone was speaking the same language; people looked and sounded similar; even my parents spoke to the locals as if they knew each other for ages. I didn't understand what that was because I hadn't lived that life. That's when I realised I wasn't living where I should have been. With so many emotions and questions flooding my mind, I had to find out where my house was.

What do you hope viewers will take back after watching the documentary?
I hope people understand the pain of anyone who has been displaced or living in exile and has been unable to return to their homeland. What we experienced wasn't by choice, so I can only wish for people to start a conversation about the meaning of home. Rather than taking some meaning, I hope there is healing after watching it.

On June 1; 3.45 pm to 5.45 pm
At Films Division Complex, Audi 1 theatre, Peddar Road.
Log on to miff.in
Cost Rs 300