Loaded with Jarring and spine-chilling scenes, ‘Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files’ presents one of the darkest chapters of Kashmir’s history. There is no doubt that the movie justifies the intent with which it has come out. The audience were cringing at times as the scenes evoke the tragic carnage of 1990. Years ago the same director presented us with ‘A Hate Story’, a decade later he has chiselled another. The riveting moments of the marginalisation of Kashmiri Pandits backed by politics leading to the marginalisation of the minority Kashmiri Pandits cower in anger and fear.
Our history is full strange developments. The Holocaust of the Nazi’s ruled Germany is in high beam light. But none has written about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits. What is so despicable is that the horrendous, bigotry fuelled genocide of Kashmiri Hindus is termed as exodus. The victims blamed of being anti semite. It is equally depressing that the felons symbolised as heroes. More than three decades passed and these conversations confined to archives and interpreted indifferently. What Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s movie did that it brought back to the forefront the painful event by concurring conversations. Therefore barring the faces of the so called hypocritical apologists. The 170 minutes movie is a documentary highlighting the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandits. The plight of those who were to leave their land and still find it difficult to venture back.
Based on the testimonies of the people who are still in trauma by the rebellion that followed. ‘The Kashmir Files’ is not just an exodus as most of the people tend to believe. We should see this as a genocide that is akin to the Holocaust. The sad irony is that the unfortunate event didn’t find mention in any of our books. Because of the media, the ‘intellectual’ lobby and the government of the day, it nurtured their (Powers Brokers) vested interests.
Having done full justice to the event, the actors have done a commendable job in portraying the characters. The movie highlights how liberals brainwashed the minds of the young students into a belief that the freedom of Kashmir is similar to that of India’s Freedom struggle. Krishna, portrayed as the grandson of Pushkar Nath is ignorant of the exodus until he meets his grandfather’s friends. When he confronted face to face with the jolting truth of the events that led to the clash of the civilians, and the Pandits were left to die as the Central Government pacified a single community.
Unlike a Bollywood drama, the movie justifies the proverb “ As you sow, so shall you reap.” The film goes all the way to suggest the Kashmiri Muslims deserve to suffer after what they did to the Pandits and other minorities. The hair-raising scenes of torture, bloodshed and brutality on pandits are paramount to an extent that one forced to crouch on his seat. The intensified dark shades as shown are gripping .
‘The Kashmir Files ‘ clearly depicts the insurgency of January 19, 1990 when religious slogans got the Kashmiri Pandits in between the attack. The contribution of the Kashmir Pandits highlighted in the character Krishna’s speech are a part of the annals of history and is purely from the documents.
‘The Kashmir files’ is not just ‘A Hate Story’ nor just a narrative. The Kashmir Files is essentially a battle of narratives, where the backdrop serves to provoke and incite.
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