As the credits started to roll, we all got up to leave amid a silence unheard of.
Never in my life, I have experienced such silence at the end of a movie and saw people walking quietly out of a film theater.
No one spoke, the audience walked quietly without pushing one another and it felt like returning home from a funeral.
I felt everyone was thinking and contemplating and that is the effect The Kashmir Files had on the audiences in Bangalore INOX Forum Mall Whitefield and hopefully all over India.
As a student of history, particularly medieval and contemporary history that is never taught to us in our schools and universities, I thought I could prepare myself to watch this movie and nothing would surprise me because, with films, it is very rare when I am surprised.
However, director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri who wrote this film surprised me as he did not hold any punches when it came to dialogues that one will never hear in any Bollywood film.
Bollywood has a history of justifying the violence of one particular community and it never fails to portray them as victims but in this film, the only victims are the Hindu pundits and Agnihotri ensures all justification of violence against the Hindus of the valley used for the last three decades falls flat.
I am happy I do not have to use the word “allegedly” because the film is mostly historically accurate. However, it was Girija Tickoo who was gang-raped and cut in two halves using a mechanical saw while she was still alive, but for storytelling, I am not going to split hair.
To me, this film is a public service because for thirty-two years the Kashmir Hindu genocide was covered in a veneer of political correctness and now director Vivek Agnihotri has ripped it apart and has successfully managed to explain the true evil and apathy that was bestowed upon the Kashmiri Pundits for the last thirty-two years.
The Kashmir File gives us information on how this genocide was operated and how Islam as a religion was used as markers to target Hindus in the valley and how neighbors became executioners.
The director also brilliantly showcases how men can be fallible and can also be good in the face of evil and judiciously uses creative freedom.
The Kashmir File is a film that makes you feel alone. As an observer of human behavior, what I saw was everyone in the audience watching this film was alone even though they came as a group and everyone watched this movie alone, lost in their own thoughts and I think it will take some time for them to discuss the movie.
The fact is very few people in India know the true story of the plight of the Kashmiri Hindus, particularly in the South of India and as the lights came on, I saw faces full of surprise and agony.
The film is very graphic and for the first time in Indian cinema, I saw brain matter, i.e. in scenes when Hindus were being shot in the head point-blank range there was backspatter on the person standing next shown covered in blood and tissue. But the graphic scenes are warranted because if the scenes of violence are not graphic, this film would be called a documentary.
The Bandipora massacre scene reminded me of the movie Schindler’s List which left a lasting impact on me on how mindlessly cruel man can be.
Director Steven Spielberg was criticised for being too graphic with violence and nudity and I am sure Vivek Agnihotri will also be criticised for his justifiably unrestrained show of violence.
But no one will say a word on violence, sex, and curse words used in the movie Gangs of Wasseypur that glorified brigandage.
The other reason this film reminded me of Schindler’s List was when I saw small children who are not old enough to understand anything were innocently spewing venom against the pundits. It reminded me of that famous scene from Schindler’s List when a small girl standing in the railway station shouts “Goodbye Jews” without knowing what horrible fate awaits them.
I am also mentioning the movie Belfast for some context on how hypocrisy works. This film has been directed by Kenneth Branagh and has received seven nominations at the 94th Academy Awards.
It tells the story of how the majority of protestant Christians turned on their minority Catholic neighbors who prayed to the same god has received worldwide acclaim.
But I am afraid The Kashmir Files will not be received in kindness because it has opened a chapter of our history that some people want to remain closed and the film blatantly showcases the violence Muslims unleashed against their minority Hindu neighbors in Kashmir.
This film is now a “fork in the road”, a deciding moment in the history of Kashmir, and we the people of Bharat are now faced with the task to choose the options presented to us.
Lastly, I want to thank Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra for making the movie Shikara which most probably spurred Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri to make The Kashmir File.
As a parting gift to Mr Chopra, I want to say “you don’t know nadur and you don’t know Kashmir” and to his wife Anupama Chopra, you no longer have the power to run your parochial and self-servicing narratives.
After the film ended I came home but Pushkar Nath Pandit and the hundreds of thousands of my Kashmiri brothers and sisters are still waiting to go home.
Om Namah Shivaya.
Mata Saraswati Sharda.
This article was originally published in Samvada World and has been republished here with permission.
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The Kashmir Files Unearths The Genocide That Was Buried Deep By The System
Few people here decide the news narratives that are being set across the country. They discuss a few stories repeatedly using which they are able to set their narratives deep in the minds of the people.
They also focus on not letting the news stories that they do not want the masses to know. They are the ones who decide the academic contents, news narratives and movie stories. The question may now arise as to who they are.
In the film, Prof Radhika Menon tells student Krishna Pandit, “They may run the Government, but we run the system.”. This ecosystem comprising of the political-media-academic establishment had buried the genocide that happened and is now denying the right to justice for the community. If you have a doubt that your thinking ability may also have been affected by the impact of their narratives, then The Kashmir Files is the movie for you.
The movie is based on true events and tells us the blood shed history that no one has ever told before. Exactly 32 years ago, tensions erupted in the Kashmir Valley. Armed with the slogan “Convert, Flee or Die”, the terrorists slaughtered the section of Kashmiri Pandits. The movie revolves around Krishna Pandit and his grandfather Pushkar Pandit, who escaped and lives in the country’s capital. When they fled out of Kashmir, Krishna Pandit was a small child. He has no recollection of what happened then. Krishna’s grandfather tells Krishna that all their family members died in an accident. That was all Krishna knew.
Krishna, who is studying at a reputed university in the capital, once attends a gathering that calls for “Separate Kashmir”. Professor Radhika Menon then exclaimed, “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India.” The Indian Army is persecuting the people of Kashmir. So she speaks of the need to liberate Kashmir from India. Then, Krishna Pandit stood up and said, “The Pandits in Kashmir were slaughtered and so the Pandits left Kashmir.” “That is not true. Kashmir pandits left the valley on their own,” says Professor Radhika Menon. Immediately those in the crowd stop Krishna Pandit from speaking, saying that this is not true and there is no evidence for this. Then Krishna Pandit goes and talks to the professor separately, and then they two become good friends.
Meanwhile, Krishna Pandit’s grandfather Pushkar Pandit was fighting as an individual to abrogate Article 370. At one point, the controversy over Kashmir between the two becomes truly thrilling. Krishna Pandit decides to contest in the students’ elections. One day, Professor Radhika Menon approaches Krishna Pandit and convinces Krishna to raise the “Separate Kashmir” slogan. She also stresses that only by doing so can he win the election. Krishna’s grandfather tells Krishna, “The end of politics is only destruction.” The young Krishna reaches a state of confusion.
Krishna’s grandfather dies. According to his grandfather’s last wish, Krishna goes to Kashmir for the asthi visarjan of his grandfather. Then Krishna meets his grandfather’s friends in the valley. As guided by the professor, Krishna also meets key terrorists who demands separate Kashmir. After these meetings Krishna returns to the capital and speaks at his university political meeting. This movie is all about his vision of Kashmir then.
In the midst of this, Krishna finds answers to his question, was it the Indian Army or the Terrorists that killed his family? In a scene, when Anupam Kher asks a realistic question, “Kashmir pandits never took arms in their hands, then why should this happen to us?”, it leaves the audience numb. There are no words to praise the courage and bravery of the director Vivek Agnihotri, who portrayed the atrocities happened in the valley with the same intensity. Bollywood star Anupam Kher, who was affected by the Kashmir genocide, has been cast in the lead role. I don’t know if he could have played any other character so wonderfully in his lifetime.
The fact that the movie crew has given their full commitment to this film is the main reason for the huge success of the movie. Despite some criticisms on the technically element, the purpose of the movie is not distracted at any point. The movie, which faced innumerable political and religious afflictions, came to the screens and is currently has become the talk of the nation. The fact that it took 32 years for us to know about this genocide itself is a shame of Independent India.
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