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Kashmir address depression via new music video, ‘Pari’

By Maheen Sabeeh
Fri, 06, 19

As we reported earlier, music group Kashmir, who won the resurrected Pepsi Battle of the Bands – which has since been dubbed the second season of the music series – has released a new music video, titled ‘Pari’.

Written and directed by Ashar Khalid, who previously directed ‘Khwaab’ for the band, this latest effort is quite impressive, yet again.

The monochrome video opens with frame focused on a woman, sitting on a chair, crying, struggling with something internal. After 30 seconds, Ali Raza, who plays keyboards walks in, in suit and tie and starts playing a piano. A glimpse of Zair Zaki on acoustic guitars follows before Bilal Ali takes the mic, singing about not despairing.

The woman’s attention is now on the group. Soon enough, all members of the band such as Shane J. Anthony on drums, Usman Siddiqui on bass guitar and Vais Khan on lead guitars make solo appearances in this lullaby of hope.

After the solo entrances of each member, by 2 minutes and 40 seconds, the band is together, singing about finding silver linings and beautiful colors. As the woman walks up to the band, Bilal Ali, the vocalist, who first wrote this song for his sister, as he told Instep, puts his hand on her forehead as she cries. From here, the video changes frames completely as a woman is in open air, surrounded by trees and dancing except it’s in the imagination of the sufferer. The video captures the internal/external fight that anyone battling depression goes through and does so in unbelievably strong fashion. The suit and tie attire the band is sporting is a good change of pace for them.

Kashmir isn’t getting sloppy. If anything, they are getting better with every song. It is no wonder that Bilal Ali is up for a Lux Style Award in the category of Singer of the Year. The music video, more like a short film, is written and directed by Ashar Khalid and is yet another award worthy music video and single from Kashmir. The song is meant to provide hope in a person’s darkest hours and in that sense, it accomplishes its mission.