Pulwama, Feb 05: Noted Bollywood director Muzaffar Ali and his son, Saad Ali, have been in Kashmir with their crew for the past few days, shooting for the web series Zooni.
Local actor Aqib Souba, who also has a role in the series, said the shoot began on Wednesday at the scenic Shikargah and Panner Jagir areas of Tral in Pulwama.
The team then moved to the historic town of Charar-e-Sharif in Budgam district, where some scenes were filmed on Thursday.
The web series Zooni revisits an unfinished film of the same name, directed by Muzaffar Ali, starring Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. The original film was an ode to the legendary Kashmiri poet Habba Khatoon, popularly known as Zooni. It was shot in Tral, Pampore, and other locations in Kashmir in 1989 but remained incomplete. A reshoot was announced for the film in 2024.
“We were the first and the last people from Bollywood to shoot a movie in Tral back in 1989,” said Saad Ali, director of the web series.
Saad, who was just 15 when Zooni was being filmed, worked as an assistant director under his father.
“It’s been 35 years since then, and we decided to come back to Kashmir to relive those memories,” he said, adding that there is no better place than Kashmir to refresh the past.
The team plans to revisit all the locations where Zooni was shot in 1989, including Tral, Pampore, and Srinagar.
Muzaffar Ali said that 75% of the original film was completed, with shoots held in Tral, Pampore, Dachigam, and Tangmarg.
He said that Zooni is more than just the story of Habba. “It depicts the journey of a father and his son,” he said.
