‘Habba Khatoon’ of Basheer Badgami, 70s

After Doordarshan Centre was established in Srinagar in 1972, a number of tele-films were made.  These first few films were about things that all Kashmiris used to cherish, mytho-memories and words of their Habba Khatoons, Rasul Mirs and Badshahs. Among these tele-films Habba Khatoon by Basheer Badgami was probably the most popular and famous. The film had Reeta Razdan as heroine in the role of  poet-queen of Kashmir and Ghani Khan as King Yusuf Chak. The songs were sung by Shamima Dev (who later went on to be Azad [previously]).
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This much I know from ‘A History of Kashmiri Literature’ by Trilokinath Raina. But till recently I hadn’t see any of these films ( who knew a few of them were shown in Kashmir Film festival organised by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in 2009 [.pdf of Films Schedule]).

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This morning [thanks to Mrinal Kaul] I came across the famous Habba Khatoon.

Uploaded to Youtube by 44x4x4x [who given his profile picture there, a painting called ‘A Beauty of the Valley’ by G. Hadenfeldt, found in ‘The Charm of Kashmir’ (1920) by V.C. Scott O’connor‘ , is probably already a reader of this blog or someone who somehow found a part of it. I big thanks to the uploader for sharing].

9 Replies to “‘Habba Khatoon’ of Basheer Badgami, 70s”

  1. My chachi comes from the area. Kashmiri world is so small…someday someone is gonna walk up to my door and ask 'Kya sa mahrah, ye kya bakwaas chiv lekhsan' 🙂

  2. if only Mehmuda hadn't organized Shamima's marriage (inputs from mother)… I really want to pen down all the things people knew/ were talking about the whole thing. It may just get too political though 🙂

    1. I too have heard the story in bits…couldn't follow. Also, I don't like the fact Shamima believes in Jagmohan theory.

  3. Reeta razdan was was my friend since we left Kashmir nothing is known about her.if anybody can provide me her.
    Contact no n address.I will be obliged

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