Tag: India

A forgotten Blitz report of 22 August 1953, titled “Beggar’s Opera,” alleged that family connections and political patronage were influencing appointments and promotions in Jammu & Kashmir. The report, naming several relatives and associates of Mirza Afzal Beg, offers a revealing—and controversial—archival glimpse into the political culture of the time.

n the early 1950s, Kashmir became the unlikely birthplace of a landmark in Indian colour cinema. Ezra Mir’s Pamposh, shot around Dal Lake in 1951–52, was India’s first colour feature domestically produced and processed after Independence. It travelled to Cannes in 1954, but the film itself has since vanished. Today, rare photographs, including an exclusive 1953 Blitz image preserved by Kashmir Rechords, and archival material documented by SAGE researchers offer tantalising glimpses of a lost cinematic Kashmir.