often we dont see things that are right under our nose maybe because we dont want to ever since terror spread its first tentacles back in the 1980s punjab was all afire kashmir had begun burning and the northeast was on the edge bollywood has either totally zoomed out of troubled zones or been shifty in its take on the war withinif there was a terrorist at all an aatankwadi he was a caricature like dr dang or mogambo it was all natak no nuance not anymore though our flagship movie industry seems to have grown up and matured tackling the uncomfortable issue with both outward elegance and inward gaze grappling with it and as tere bin laden showed laughing at it toicrest traces our cinemas shifting focus on the fraught framesas india moves through its sixties it is a good time to explore how the freest of our creative zones our cinematic imagination is evolving there have been recent changes in hindi films wrought by the phenomenon of terror which has impacted stories settings and characters reshaping the very meaning of this cinema the changes that have been sewn have been remarkable and quiet mainstream hindi cinema has traditionally been known for escapist fare the industry held political beliefs but kept these understated making films as elastic as a vinyl record as light as a gossamer dream postindependence countless hindi films were located in paradise itself kashmir was the backdrop for movies set in manicured mughal gardens dainty shikaras wobbling on the dal lake girls in colourful firans with long silver earrings waving cheerfully as shammi kapoor drove past even as the regions political ambience darkened through the 1960s hindi film heroes ignored storm clouds on the horizon singing their way across kashmirs meadows heroines in tight trousers smiling indulgently astride boredlooking ponies things began changing with the 1980s inside kashmir as militancy spread hindi filmmakers found it increasingly difficult to film terror meant attacks retaliation damage death and grief it also meant silence once the valley could be shown echoing with the coquetry of lovers the swish of golf strokes the clatter of tea trays and the clipclop of horses but suddenly filmmakers were unnerved by the silence that fell over it a spell bolstered by rumbling army trucks and crackling wirelesses as kashmir had bitter spoonfuls of terror stirred daily into its environment how could stories featuring freedom and frolic be based there accepting this reality was not easy for hindi filmmakers kashmir after all was the ultimate escape a place of crystalline freshness where the soul breathed freely untied from the worries of the metropolis and the exigencies of the town in kashmirs vaadiyan the plainsbased indian enjoyed a little laugh a little love a liberty or two however this kashmir presented tenderly in technicolour as ours suddenly vanished from life and film its evaporation was a significant disappearing act the kashmir narrative was increasingly marked by nationalism which invokes violence