"There was complete darkness...": Kunal Kemmu recalls "being thrown off" during bomb blast in Srinagar

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] February 22 : Actor Kunal Kemmu opened up on his early memories of Kashmir, where he lived as a six-year-old before his family moved to Mumbai. Recalling the tense atmosphere and the uncertainty of those times, Kemmu shared how he witnessed incidents that he didn't fully understand as a child.
In a conversation with ANI, the 'Golmaal 3' actor recalled the fear that surrounded his childhood in Srinagar, where sudden explosions and stone-pelting incidents were a part of everyday life. The actor also spoke about the fear that existed at the time, such as how hearing a "loud sound" would cause confusion about whether it was "a cylinder blast or a bomb."
"It's from the perspective of a 6-year-old. And that's how I saw it. I remember... I remember the great things about Srinagar--my school, going to Dal Lake with the family, or going to Pahalgam. And then I remember them being stressed. Because as a six-year-old, you don't really know what's happening. And your parents and family are trying to protect you as much as they can. But you still hear about things, right?" he said.
"I remember there used to be this thing... that if you heard a loud sound, there was always this confusion ki kahin cylinder phata hai ki bomb. So I remember that as a chatter sometimes. I remember there were times when, for some reason, you wouldn't turn on the lights at night because there was a risk of a stone coming into the house, since it was declared that lights should not be on in the evening," Kunal added.
Recalling the "harsh experience" of a bomb blast that occurred right beneath his house, Kemmu said, how they all were playing, when suddenly he was "thrown off" with complete darkness and smoke in front of him.
"And then to top it all, the one harsh experience I remember was a blast below our house while we were inside. I remember sitting and playing cards with my cousin. We were playing a game called Bluff. And all of a sudden, I just remember being thrown off. You couldn't hear anything. I just remember seeing smoke and glass shatter. But it was all visual. I remember it was like a film scene. I remember going upside down and seeing all of that. And then there was just darkness. My memories after that are of waking up at some point."
"I can't even say if it was terror on people's faces because there were people just running around, and I remember there was a house at some point, one of the rooms, where the floor had opened up because I think the explosion happened just below. And then the entire street was filled with people. But weirdly, as silly as it may sound, I remember in the evening, the only thing I was looking at was how our area was on television. People were talking about it, and everybody was calling home. So I was like, we were being made to feel important. And so it's like, that's why I said the perspective was from a six-year-old," he added.
Kunal also spoke about experiencing moments of unrest where sudden incidents of "stone pelting" would lead to the army's arrival.
Explaining how, as a child, he struggled to understand what was happening, Kunal shared, "And there were times in Nawakadal, also, sometimes when, you know, stone pelting would start and then the army would come. And I remember my other cousin and I would look through the windows and not understand what was transpiring."
"So for me, what happened is after that, and after we left and came to Mumbai, not knowing that we wouldn't be going back, we were still trying to figure it out. I think our parents kind of did an amazing job of sheltering us from it. But at six and seven, you always heard people talk about it," he added.
Kunal said, that as a child, he found the situation 'unpleasant' because of this he never tried to actively pursue what exactly was happening in the valley.
"And you saw people getting emotional about it and stressed about it. And you knew something was wrong. I think somewhere, as a kid, I kind of wanted to block that out. And that's why even while growing up, I never actively tried to pursue what was going on, what happened, or why it happened. Because I thought that, when you're a kid, those questions may be like, 'Okay, you don't get involved in this.' And then anyway, when people were discussing it, you saw that it wasn't a pleasant thing. So I think somewhere, I kind of built that wall to not ask those questions," he further said.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Kunal is known for his roles in films such as 'Raja Hindustani', 'Kalyug', 'Traffic Signal', 'Golmaal 3', 'Blood Money', 'Golmaal Again', and 'Lootcase'. He was last seen in 'Madgaon Express'.