Srinagar, July 25 -- That song, Saiyaara's title track, has become the heartbeat of a film that has swept the Indian imagination. Millions have heard it. Millions more have wept with it.

Its composer, Faheem Abdullah, is from Srinagar. Soft-spoken and sincere, he said in an interview, "I wanted people to feel something deeply. I put my soul into it."

And the country felt it, across timelines, reels, playlists, car radios.

But what they felt wasn't Faheem's Kashmir.

His home doesn't make it to the screen, except in the snow-covered postcard shots that Bollywood uses like wallpaper. The life behind the lens remains untouched.

Faheem wasn't the only Kashmiri behind Saiyaara. The film's striking aesthetic - golden dusk shots, flowing fab...