Kashmir, Politics & Films: How even 30 years later Kashmir Pandits & Muslims' plight remain a point of debate
With 'The Kashmir Files', Vivek Agnihotri and Anupam Kher have opened rusted doors. They have encouraged others to dive into this pool of content that can bring to life the emotional distraught and trauma that the Kashmiris want the world to know and understand.
The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir is one of the darkest moments in our country's history. It is a long chapter in India's archive that hasn't been explored to its full potential. While many have time and again touched upon this issue for politics, personal profit or via cinema, no one had been able to depict the brutal reality of the locals, until now. Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files', based on the stories of the first generation victims of the Genocide of the Kashmiri Pandit Community in 1990, left the audience shaken as it showed the barbaric reality and truth of the atrocities against the community. The film proved to be cathartic for its viewers.
The shining numbers at the box office are proof enough that stories like that of 'The Kashmir Files' are what viewers want to see and hear. The film is inching closer to the Rs 100 crore club and has already surpassed the five day total of commercial potboilers like Soooryavanshi, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and '83. Majority of the audience believe that Vivek Agnihotri succeeded in pushing the boundaries and presented a masterpiece that will be remembered for a long time. Many also believed that a film like 'The Kashmir Files' should have been made two decades ago but no one dared to know the horrific details of the genocide, much less bring it to the big screen.
On the contrary, while 'The Kashmir Files' makes a compelling case for the Kashmiri Pandits, some allege that the film is 'Islamophobic' and accused the makers of being careless with the facts. One Twitter user even claimed, "What makes this Kashmir Files absurd is not only their propaganda but also the fact that makers of the film, and its endorsers, actually celebrate killing of Muslims and worship the killers."
To present a contrary view, netizens also gave the example of another Bollywood film, Haider. The film shows how Kashmiri Muslims became a target of the politics of the state as well. There is a point in the film when Haider is stopped by an army officer and face the heat when he reveals he is travelling to Islamabad. Reflecting the plight of the locals, Haider says "Hum hai ke hum nahi, Hai ke hai nahi, bas yahi sawaal hai."
There were multiple tweets echoing similar sentiments. This polarisation in the views has only led to a deeper debate about whose wounds are deeper or more painful. Repeatedly, the makers of TKF have claimed that the film aims to give a voice to the unheard. At this point in time, it feels the reason behind making this film is defeated.
Watching everything through the filtered lens of religion or hunting at scenes that can turn political frequently makes the represented section of the society uncomfortable. After all, they are looking to be heard, seen and understood whereas politicising it only leads to different narratives and exploitation at the hands of power.
In the present time, the 'power' to influence and make or break an opinion lies in the hands of faceless people sitting behind the keyboards. Although the mainstream Bollywood production houses shy away from bringing such films to life, the emergence of social media has proved that content doesn't need big banners to be in the spotlight. Case in point-- content-driven films like The Kashmir Files, Article 15, Mulk, Shahid, Pink, Haider, Thappad among others.
Even though these films landed in controversies for their 'contentious' subjects, the good or bad social media spotlight worked in their favour as the audience connected to them.
Having said that, every film that touched the topic of Kashmir conflicts did not make it to the hearts of the viewers. In 2020, Vidhu Vinod Chopra came up with a love story of a Kashmiri pandit couple at the peak of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1990s. The film was pleasing to the eyes in terms of showcasing the beauty of Kashmir, however, it failed to address the pain of the subsequent exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley which hurt the sentiments of the people.
The audience claimed that Chopra buried the plight of the people under the garb of 'love and hope'. A Kashmiri Pandit woman even broke down after watching the film and lashed out at the director for "commercialising the plight of Kashmiri Pandits."
Kashmir has popularly been a part of the Indian Cinema with beautiful representation in films like Raazi, Highway, Fitoor, Hamid, Inshallah, Kashmir, Mission Kashmir and others. However, it has majorly been a partial, rose-tinted narrative. Never once did the mainstream filmmakers try to pick the stories of pain and longings of the people that still echo in the valley.
With 'The Kashmir Files', Vivek Agnihotri and Anupam Kher have opened rusted doors. They have encouraged others to dive into this pool of content that can bring to life the emotional distraught and trauma that the Kashmiris want the world to know and understand. Agnihotri himself has announced that he will be coming up with a web series on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Will it again become a topic of discussion? Only time will tell.