Most of the films that comes out of Bollywood these days are trash. Except for the extravaganza and making stereotypes of those south of the Vindhyas, they really offer nothing meaningful. But rarely a few good ones do make it through. The Kashmir Files is one such.
It has taken three decades to even muster the courage and tell about the horrific exodus of Kashmiri Hindus who were forcefully made to become refugees in their own country. The Kashmir Files is a movie centered on the real-life incidents based on interviews with victims who have lived through the horrors of the genocide.
The movie starts with a gut-wrenching scene where an Islamic terrorist feeding blood-soaked rice to a Kashmiri Hindu woman. This very first scene of the movie sets the tone for what is to come forth – raw unadulterated truth.
The plot of the movie is simple. Krishna Pandit, victim of the first generation Kashmiri Pandit Genocide, who never lived in Kashmir except for few years, firmly believes there was no genocide, and it was exodus. He and his friends are conditioned to rebel against the initiatives of the Government of India, especially Abrogation of Article 370 and Indian armed forces who are depicted as villains.
Death of Krishna’s grandfather brings him to the get-together of his grandfather’s friends who survived the Kashmiri Pandit Genocide in the valley. The story unravels from there and ends with his speech on glory of Kashmir, the epic center of knowledge to the world.
Very few movie makers have taken such bold stories to silver screen without any adulteration. Vivek Agnihotri has done it unabashedly with scenes of brutal murder of Kashmiri Hindus and strong dialogues against ecosystem hiding the truth.
Vivek Agnihotri hits two balls with one shot. He uses a ‘woke’ Kashmiri Pandit youth to narrate the horrors that the community has gone through and while doing so he gives a tight slap to all the nefarious negationist intellectual elites who deny and underplay the horrors.
It takes sheer belief in the truth for actors and technicians to involve themselves in this project. So, special kudos to the industry veterans like Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Prakash Melwadi, Puneet Issar, and Pallavi Menon who have beautifully portrayed the characters of first generation Kashmiri pandits who forcibly fled Kashmir.
There is nothing else for someone like me to review on the ‘craft’ or other aspects. But if you’re wondering whether to watch the movie or not, then let me conclude by saying this.
Every Indian must watch this movie and feel remorse for not speaking about this for so long.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.