The Kashmir Files controversy: Reacting to the ongoing controversy of Kashmir Files, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the 'maximum number of killings in Kashmir occurred after this film.' Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid had termed "The Kashmir Files" "propaganda movie" and "vulgar" at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday night in Goa. However, he later apologised.
Calling it propaganda by just one party, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader said, "It's true about Kashmir Files. There was propaganda by one party against another. A party&Govt was busy with publicity. But the maximum number of killings in Kashmir occurred after this film. Kashmir Pandits, security personnel were killed: Sanjay Raut on IFFI Jury Head's remark." "Where were these Kashmir Files people then? The children of Kashmiri Pandits were also agitating, where were they then? Nobody came forward then, nor were their plans for a Kashmir Files 2.0 - make that too."
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War of words erupted after Lapid termed his film a "propaganda". While director of the movie Vivek Agnihotri tweeted, "GM. Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie. #CreativeConsciousness," actor Anupam Kher who starred in the film too took to Twitter to share a series of stills from legendary American filmmaker Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Holocaust drama "Schindler's List" along with a picture from "The Kashmir Files". "Schindler's List is the 1993 film which revolved around Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II.
"No matter how big the lie is, it's always smaller than the truth in comparison," the actor, who had attended the special screening of the film at the 53rd IFFI on November 22, wrote.
Written and directed by Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, "The Kashmir Files" depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following the killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists. Following its March 11 release, the film was called out for its problematic politics by a section of critics and authors, but it performed exceptionally well at the box office by minting over Rs 330 crore. The movie had also sparked a debate among political parties after several BJP-ruled states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, gave it exemption from entertainment tax.
