Rendered refugees in their own country, based on testimonials of the survivors, the film makes a strong argument that this wasn’t just an exodus, but a barbaric genocide that continues to be brushed under the carpet for political reasons. Living in exile for almost 30 years, their homes and shops encroached by the locals, the Kashmiri Pandits (KP) continue to hope for justice and most importantly, to be acknowledged. It’s strange that not many films have broached this incident despite its gruelling impact on displaced families. Be it any ideology, faith or suffering, voices being curtailed seems to be a common nightmare. Kashmir, a lost paradise has been grappling with humanitarian crisis, cross border terrorism, separatist movements and fight for self-determination. Once prosperous and multi-cultured, now a disputed territory that struggles to stabilise itself amidst the constant tension, its wounds run deep and The Kashmir Files rips off the band-aid. In a span of little less than 3 hours, we try to get to the truth. But as they say, every truth has two sides. Vivek Agnihotri’s fairly graphic and explosive film revisits the exodus and its aftermath. Based on documented reports, it shows the brutalities faced by KP’s because of their religion. Be it telecom engineer BK Ganjoo’s murder in a rice barrel, Nadimarg massacre where 24 Hindu Kashmiri Pandits were killed by militants dressed in combat uniforms, or defamatory slogans. The film recreates these real life incidents and we see them through the eyes of an ageing nationalist, Pushkar Nath Pandit (Anupam Kher), his four best friends and his on-the-fence grandson, Krishna (Darshan Kumaar). Oblivious to his past, Krishna’s quest for truth forms the story. Reopening old wounds may not offer a solution but healing can only happen once the trauma is accepted. Agnihotri goes all out without watering down the events and that makes his film an intense watch. He resorts to shock over subtlety. A rather muddled storytelling laced with a he-said-she-said narrative; doesn’t allow you to feel at one with the characters or understand their psyche. The film skims through multiple issues — Digs at JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University), media likened to terrorist ki rakhail, selective reportage of foreign media, Indian Army, political warfare, abrogation of Article 370 and mythology and ancient history of Kashmir — all at once. Pushkar Nath Pandit and his story leave you teary-eyed but he gets lost in the clutter somewhere and the film feels more long and less detailed. More chaos, less context. Right to dissent and opposing views find a place, but those one-dimensional characters barely scratch the surface, so the exercise of striking a balance and present conflicting views feels more of a formality. Anupam Kher’s heart-aching performance leaves a lump in your throat. As a man pining for his lost home, Kher is outstanding. Pallavi Joshi is equally effective. Given her acting prowess, you wish her character was more layered. Chinmay Mandlekar and Mithun Chakraborty are competent in their respective roles. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s romantic drama Shikara got flak for not being the untold story of Kashmiri Pandits as it was pitched to the audience. It however, got you closer to their culture, pain and state of hopelessness. Vivek Agnihotri doesn’t dodge the bullet. He gets the politics and militancy to the forefront. The trauma of being torn away from your home looms in the background…Read more

It wasn’t easy to watch The Kashmir Files. It wasn’t just another movie. Cinematic brilliance aside, it was an eye-opener for all those of us who sat for the screening at the PVR Plaza cinema at Connaught Place. The fact that Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Agnihotri spent 4 years to make the film, with such extensive detailed research of close to 700 hard-hitting interviews that are testimonials from first-generation victims of the genocide of the Kashmiri Pandits community in the 1990s is in itself not a small feat. I am not a history major in my formal education. But I have studied history like any other student as a module. After watching The Kashmir Files, it shakes my soul today that history books, academics alike have skipped pressing on the excruciating and extensive details of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. Mind you, this film tells you nothing new. But tells you and reminds you and forces you to think why we can’t look at history in the eye without any shame. Makes you angry again as to why a Yasin Malik and Syed Ali Shah Geelani were allowed to get tacit support from politicians and intellectuals like Arundhati Roy and many more. Why those intellectuals who constantly bat for the ‘azadi’ of Kashmir and call it ‘fundamentally a call for justice’ don’t see the other side of the rightful occupants of the land being forced into mass departure when that is their land and that is their country their home. 3 odd hours of encapsulation of that trauma is spine chilling. It makes you re-think why farcical negotiations were even on the table when Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate (whose character is played well by Chinmay Mandlekar) has openly confessed to killing Kashmiri Hindus? Why is the conviction rate so low and why was he never sent to the gallows or even given life imprisonment? The Kashmiri Pandit’s betrayal is evidently well documented in this film and makes you ask this question, why is Farooq Ahmed Dar, the self-admitted butcher of Kashmiri Pandits still roaming scot-free? It was a monumental failure on the part of the state in its obligation to protect the minority Hindu Pandits in the valley. It gave a definite signal of India being a soft state and arguably is one of the reasons for fuelling the separatist mentality and encouraging terrorism. The film begins with the real story of the killing of Satish Tickoo by JKLF terrorists and later shows how they walked armed around Srinagar searching for the Pandits like blood-sucking leeches only to kill them after spotting them, wiping off families and destroying them. The JKLF terrorists did not spare the women; they did not spare the kids. That scene sets the tone and is the most defining start to files that rip the bandage off and what you see later, for many would justify the abrogation of Article 370, at least in principle, without getting into the debate over the legality of it all. As a side note, any kind of religious fundamentalism is a strict no go. I thought I should say this before I get labelled ‘islamophobic’ or ‘right wing’ or whatever it is that the polarized world hurriedly labels you these days. I’m a centrist and feel a need to emphasise this while writing this piece and this does not serve as an apology to either side of the political spectrum. The Kashmir Files opens up your eyes to stories that were untold - the separatist sympathizing politicians, the impact of religious extremism, a press that ignored the harsh reality on the ground and shows how there was a glorification of terrorists as some kind of revolutionaries. And shows you true, real facts on how, despite this subjugation and bloodshed, the Kashmiri Pandits did not pick up arms. It is heartwarming as the film makes a conspicuous effort to highlight that fact. Any journalist’s core job is to speak truth to power and I wonder what a large part of journalists then were up to when these Kashmiri Pandits were brutally killed and the women raped and murdered in broad daylight with kids not spared either. It’s not political but it is. It is more humanitarian though. These are not made-up stories or made-up atrocities; they are based on real testimonials of the minorities who were forced into a mass exodus due to the genocide. The state failed to contain the growth of Islamist militancy in the valley and this is a not-so-gentle reminder said in a powerful, riveting, emphatic fashion, a style that is quite a leaf from the filmmaker’s own work - Tashkent Files. Cinema, art have a role to play in telling these stories that make you think, act and touch a chord that makes you act in a way that enables change. And as Vivek puts it "patriotism doesn’t only have to be at the border." This is an example of that. I may not agree with his politics always, but what he has done is show facts and there can never be a disagreement on that front ever. He has used his craft to tell a story as an artist. This film is not cancel culture. A colleague of mine, Pooja Shali, a Kashmiri Pandit herself, who’s an expert at reporting all things Kashmir quite extensively, just watched the trailer and could draw up real-life references that inspired these characters. She hadn’t even watched the movie and she was correct. Agnihotri has not taken any cinematic liberties but said it as it is. Charu Pragya, who sat right beside me and watched the film, sobbed a river. That says it all in terms of an indomitable storytelling ability. Absolutely stunning acting performances by Anupam Kher, Chinmay Mandlekar, Pallavi Joshi, Dashan Kumaar and Bhasha Sumbli, who do justice to the script given to them. These are stories that need to be told and for many soft separatists, it may be a hard pill to swallow. Think about it for a second if there have been such brutal atrocities that the Kashmiri Hindus have gone through would you not keep your political leanings aside for the sake of humanity and hope for some closure for the first generation victims in their right to justice?Read more