The Kashmir Files Archives

‘The Kashmir Files’ Adjudged ‘Best Film’ At Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival

By LokMarg 21st February 2023

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s directorial ‘The Kashmir Files’ bagged the Best Film award at Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards held in Mumbai on Monday.

Sharing the update, Vivek took to Twitter and said that he dedicated the award to “all the victims of terrorism and to all the people of India for your blessings.”
“#TheKashmirFiles wins the ‘Best Film’ award at #DadaSahebPhalkeAwards2023.

“This award is dedicated to all the victims of terrorism and to all the people of India for your blessings,” he wrote.

Netizens flooded Vivek’s comment section with congratulatory wishes.

“Wow! Congratulations, well deserved,” a social media user commented.

“Huge congratulations to the team,” another one wrote.

‘The Kashmir Files’ documents the alleged genocide and exile of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, during the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. The film features Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar, Chinmay Mandlekar, and Bhasha Sumbli.

The film had a successful run at the box office.

The Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2023 also saw Alia Bhatt lifting the trophy for ‘Best Actress’.

Her husband Ranbir Kapoor collected the ‘Best Actor’ award for his performance in ‘Brahmastra’. Veteran actor Rekha was honoured for her ‘Outstanding Contribution To The Film Industry’.

Here is the full winners’ list from the event.

Best Film: The Kashmir Files

Best Director: R Balki for Chup: Revenge of The Artist

Best Actor: Ranbir Kapoor for Brahmastra: Part 1

Best Actress: Alia Bhatt for Gangubai Kathiawadi

Most Promising Actor: Rishab Shetty for Kantara

Best Actor In A Supporting Role: Manish Paul for Jugjugg Jeeyo

Outstanding Contribution In The Film Industry: Rekha

Best Web Series: Rudra: The Edge of Darkness

Critics Best Actor: Varun Dhawan for Bhediya

Film of The Year: RRR

Television Series of The Year: Anupamaa

Most Versatile Actor Of The Year: Anupam Kher for The Kashmir Files

Best Actor In A Television Series: Zain Imam for Fanaa- Ishq Mein Marjawaan

Best Actress In A Television Series: Tejasswi Prakash for Naagin

Best Male Singer: Sachet Tandon for Maiyya Mainu

Best Female Singer: Neeti Mohan for Meri Jaan

Best Cinematographer: PS Vinod for Vikram Vedha (ANI)

Close Your Eyes If You Can’t See Truth: Kher Over IFFI Jury’s Statement

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who played the protagonist in the blockbuster ‘The Kashmir Files’, which documents the alleged genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, on Tuesday spoke up on the raging controversy over the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) jury head and Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s statement calling the film ‘a propaganda’ and ‘vulgar’ at the festival’s closing ceremony on Monday.

Taking to Instagram, the actor, who recently appeared in the Sooraj R. Barjatiya directorial ‘Uunchai’, dropped a video on Instagram saying that some people can’t stomach ‘Kashmir’s truth’.

In his short video address on the social media platform, Kher said, “Friends, some people are not in the habit of showing the truth as it is. They like to give it a certain colour or cover up the truth in the name of creative liberty. The fact is that some people are not being able to digest Kashmir’s truth. They try to show Kashmir through a different cinematic lens and have been at it for the last 25-30 years. ‘The Kashmir Files’ has exposed them.”

He added, “They are having problems because the film documents the truth as it is. If you cannot see the truth, keep your eyes closed and your mouth shut. Stop making fun of it. This is our truth and we have lived through it.”

The veteran actor, who drew high praise for his performance in the film, said without taking names, “We, along with our daughters and sisters personally experienced those days. The scars are yet to heal. This truth is a part of our lives. Go and ask the ones who have been affected by it. India and Israel are friends and both countries are affected by terrorism. A common Israeli would understand the pain of Kashmiri Hindus. But, every country has traitors.”

He tagged his video post with a message that read, “The truth of Kashmir files is stuck like a thorn in the throat of some people. They are not able to swallow it or spit it out! Their soul, which is dead, is shattered badly to prove this truth false. But this film of ours is now a movement, not a movie. People’s consciousness has awakened. The desperate #Toolkit gang keeps trying millions. #TheKashmirFiles #Truth #TruthPrevails”.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 53RD IFFI, Lapid termed ‘The Kashmir Files’ a ‘propaganda, vulgar film’, adding that he was ‘shocked’ to see the film in the competition section of such a prestigious film festival.

“If the holocaust was right then the exodus of Kashmiri pandits is also right. This (Lapid’s statement) seems pre-planned as immediately after, the tool-kit gang became active. It’s shameful for him to make a statement like this as he comes from a community whose members suffered the horrors of the holocaust,” Kher told ANI on Tuesday.

“By making a statement like this, he has also hurt the holocaust survivors. I wish God gives him (Lapid) the wisdom so that he doesn’t use our tragedy to peddle his agenda on stage,” the veteran actor added.

Kher also tweeted on Lapid’s statement, saying, “No matter how high the height of the lie is.. It is always small in comparison to the truth.”

The veteran actor also juxtaposed images of ‘The Kashmir Files’ and Steven Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List’ in his tweet to drive home his point.

ANI contacted the festival organisers but they refused any comments on the jury head’s statement. (ANI)

Read More: https://lokmarg.com/

Creative Forums Used For Agenda Politics: Pallavi Joshi On IFFI Row

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Actor-producer Pallavi Joshi, who starred and part-produced ‘The Kashmir Files’, on Tuesday, opened up on the snowballing controversy over Israeli filmmaker and IFFI Jury Head Nadav Lapid labeling the blockbuster as ‘a propaganda’ and a ‘vulgar’ film.

Taking to her Instagram handle, the actor, who also bank-rolled ‘The Tashkent Files’, posted, “For decades, the international community remained silent on the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandit Community. After 3 decades, the Indian film industry finally realized that it needs to tell India’s story truthfully and objectively.”

“Vivek (Agnihotri, the director of ‘The Kashmir Files’) and I were always aware that there are elements that would not like to see the stark truth on the screen, but it is very unfortunate that a creative platform was used for a political agenda to preserve an old, false and jaded narrative about Kashmir,” the 53-year-old actor wrote.

Coming down hard on the Israeli filmmaker while thanking those who jumped to the film’s defence on social media, the ‘Trishagni’ actress added, “We are overwhelmed by the way people of India rose to defend ‘The Kashmir Files’ against the rude and vulgar statements of a genocide denier.”

Joshi went on to ‘assure the audience’ that ‘The Kashmir Files’ was. indeed, ‘a people’s film’.

She added that her production house ‘I Am Buddha’ foundation “stands for India” and “will continue on the path of truth and resilience to keep making meaningful cinema with original Indian content”.

Addressing the closing ceremony of the 53rd Internation Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday, Lapid said he was ‘shocked’ to see the film in the competition section of such a prestigious film festival.

A video clip of the closing ceremony, showing the Israeli helmer making the controversial remarks, went viral on social media.

His statement drew a fierce backlash from netizens, as well as actors Anupam Kher and Darshan Kumaar, who portrayed key roles in the film.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) vice president Abhinav Prakash, too, lashed out at the Israeli filmmaker over his statement.

The film, which is a portrayal of the alleged genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 90s, was released earlier this year and went on to become a major blockbuster. (ANI)

Read More: https://lokmarg.com/

Prove Film Wrong, Will Quit Filmmaking: Agnihotri On Controversy At IFFI

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri, on Tuesday, reacted to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Jury Head Nadav Lapid’s statement calling ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda and vulgar” film at the festival’s closing ceremony.

Taking to Instagram, director Vivek shared a video, which he captioned, “Terror supporters and Genocide deniers can never silence me. Jai Hind. #TheKashmirFiles #ATrueStory.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClioxwwD2he/embed

Vivek Agnihotri said in a video, “Yesterday at IFFI, a jury member called ‘The Kashmir Files’ a propaganda and a vulgar film. This is not a new thing for me, because these types of comments are being made by many terrorist organizations, urban naxals, and the people who want to divide India. But what surprises me the most is, that this narrative of dividing Kashmir from India by some terrorists was supported on stage at an event organized by the Government of India.”

Nadav Lapid had called ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda, vulgar film”, adding that he was “shocked” to see the film in the competition section of such a prestigious film festival. A video from the festival went viral in which Lapid is seen criticizing the film.

“Who are these people? These are the same people who called this film propaganda since the day I started working on the film. This film was made after interviewing more than 700 people whose family members were cut into pieces and gang raped. Were all those people talking propaganda or vulgar? The land where once Hindus were in majority has no Hindus today, and many Hindus are killed every other day. Is it propaganda or vulgarity? Yaseen Malik accepted his terrorism and he is in jail today. Is this propaganda or vulgarity?” Vivek added.

Lapid’s remarks did not go down well with many. Actors Anupam Kher and Darshan Kumaar, who played key roles in ‘The Kashmir Files’ along with filmmaker Ashoke Pandit and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Vice President Abhinav Prakash were among the people who condemned the controversial comments

Vivek further said, “I challenge all these urban naxals and the legendary filmmaker who came from Israel, that if they can prove any single shot, event or dialogue is not completely true then I will quit filmmaking. Who are these people who stand up against India every time? These are the same people who never allowed Moplah’s and Kashmir’s truth to come out. These are the same people who were selling burning pyres for just some dollars, and now when I announced my next film ‘The Vaccine War’ they are standing against it also, but I am not afraid, do whatever you want to do but I will fight.”

‘The Kashmir Files’ was released earlier this year in theatres and it told the story of the Hindu exodus in the 1990s and targeted killings of the Kashmiri Pandits.

The movie went on to become one of the highest-grossing Bollywood movies of 2022 and Anupam Kher received acclaim for his performance. (ANI)

Read More: https://lokmarg.com/

Shameful, Says Anupam After IFFI Calls The Kashmir Files As Vulgar

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Veteran actor Anupam Kher of the ‘The Kashmir Files’ fame on Tuesday said it is “shameful” on the part of IFFI (International Film Festival of India) jury head Nadav Lapid to term the film “propaganda, vulgar” at the festival’s closing ceremony.

During the closing ceremony of the IFFI on On November 28, Lapid termed ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda, vulgar film”, adding that he was “shocked” to see the film in the competition section of such a prestigious film festival.
“If the holocaust was right then the exodus of Kashmiri pandits is also right. This seems pre-planned because immediately after it the tool-kit gang became active. It’s shameful for him to make a statement like this even though he comes from a community of Jews who suffered from the holocaust,” Kher told ANI on Tuesday.

“So by making a statement like this, he has also pained those people who suffered this tragedy. I would just say may god give him wisdom so that he doesn’t use the tragedy of thousands of people to fulfill his aim on stage,” he added.

Referring to Lapid’s remarks, Anupam Kher also tweeted, “No matter how high the height of the lie is. It is always small in comparison to the truth.” The veteran actor attached pictures from ‘The Kashmir Files’ and Steven Spielberg’s film ‘Schindler’s List’ with his tweet.

When ANI contacted festival organisers on the jury head’s statements over the ‘Kashmir Files’, they declined to comment.

Released earlier this year, the ‘The Kashmir Files’ was listed in the line-up for IFFI’s Indian Panorama segment for the year 2022. The film is based on the life of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, during the Kashmir insurgency. It is a true story, based on video interviews of the first generation. (ANI)

Read More: https://lokmarg.com/

‘Kashmir Files Is A Political Ploy To Demonize Muslims’

By LokMarg 13th April 2022

Majid Maqbool, a senior journalist from Srinagar, saysthe movie seeks to selectively exploit the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits and promote hatred

The Kashmir Files has been released at a time when Kashmir remains besieged, post August 5, 2019, following the unilateral abrogation of Article 370 by the ruling BJP government in New Delhi and further downgrading of the former state into a Union Territory. This has been followed by a six-month long lockdown and communications shutdown and world’s longest internet shutdown, which, suddenly, disconnected people from each other and the outside world for months.

Since then the Indian State, under the current regime, has tightened its grip and sought to curb all forms of independent media, civil society engagements, and political voices across the spectrum, including the local media. This has virtually compelled them to either remain silent or toe the line of the ruling dispensation.

Draconian laws like the PSA and UAPA continue to be slapped against civil society activists and journalists and anyone who dares to raise his or her voice against the many injustices normalized in the Valley are hounded, punished and put into prison.

Predictably, the film is a brazen attempt to selectively exploit the tragedies of one community – the Kashmiri Pandits of Jammu and Kashmir. This community is shown as the only victim in the state, and the other community, the Kashmiri Muslims, is further demonized and projected as the perpetrators.

ALSO READ: ‘Kashmir Files Is A Farrago Of Disinformation’

The fact is that the film was openly promoted by the ruling party and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and, other BJP ministers and rightwing groups. This was a clear message to the people of India to watch the film and thereby proves the political intent behind the making of this kind of biased cinema.

The Kashmir Files is a political project to further demonize Kashmiri Muslims and Indian Muslims at a time when they are already politically dispossessed and repressed by the State. Certainly, they are being attacked ritualistically, and are being treated as second class citizens. The assault on Muslims and their religious places during the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami, especially in certain BJP-ruled states, is a transparent pointer.

Contrary to the relentless hate politics and anti-Kashmiri propaganda by certain sections of Kashmiri Pandits in public forums and media, the besieged people in Kashmir, across all communities, Hindus and Muslims, are not consumed by so-called ‘anti-KP’ hatred. They are largely sympathetic to their condition and desire their return home without their pain being politically exploited and used by the rightwing political forces.

While growing up in Kashmir, I have never heard a single Kashmiri Muslim not fervently wanting the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homes — however, not in separate, isolated and ghettos protected by security forces. This would only sharpen the divides and disconnects among both the communities and block all forms of meaningful individual and collective engagements. Over the years, the return of the KPs has been politicized and exploited by parties like the BJP to further their political agendas, instead of making genuine efforts for their welfare and rehabilitation.

The film has intentionally fictionalized and exploited old, simmering wounds of the Pandits. The rightwing groups and parties have tried to further stoke anti-Muslim sentiments by invoking this film in their hate speeches to demonize and marginalize the Muslim community at large in India. Not surprisingly, the film has allegedly done good business at the box office, creating an easy template to replicate in future and a dangerous business and cinematic model of monetizing and marketing hate.

As told to Amit Sengupta

‘The Kashmir Files is A Farrago of Disinformation; A Propaganda’

By LokMarg 21st March 2022

Omair Hasan* counters the Bollywood narrative which, he argues, is an attempt to further polarize the country and a disservice to the cause of Kashmiri Pandits

I was about three year old when the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley happened. I have very little memory of the incident. But the story of their migration came in front of me in various forms. As I grew, I realized a couple of houses in my neighbourhood were always deserted. Those were the houses of Pandits who left during the 1990 violence.

I also came across many other stories of violence against them. Nobody can justify the atrocity and violence which happened on them. But weaponising those tragic incidents against Kashmiri Muslims is also not justified.

I saw The Kashmir Files and I seriously doubt the intention of the movie. It is a farrago of disinformation. A complete distortion of facts; a misrepresentation of history and a vicious propaganda.

Every incident has been presented in the movie in a way with an agenda. If we start with the death toll, 89 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in attacks since the inception of militancy in 1990, according to the government data. The movie completely evades the data on the number of killings.

There are various scenes in the movie which show the massacre but never address the number of deaths or what led to the start of killings.

ALSO READ: Kashmir Files Brings Alive Our Pain & Plight

In his book Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, AS Dulat addresses the reason behind the start of killings. He writes that some Pandits were on the payrolls of Intelligence Bureau which he was heading. He also goes on to name some of them who were killed. This vindicates the position taken by militant groups that they were not targeting Pandits in general but had selective targets not linked to their religion but for their affiliations with Indian Intelligence.

This thus debunks and punctures the Indian state’s propaganda to shame Kashmiri resistance movement. I believe that the intention behind hiding the numbers and reason in the movie was to obfuscate people than to make them aware of the event.

Another distorted fact which has been shown in the movie is Kashmiri Pandits demanding removal of Article 370 in 1990. It is laughable. Why were Pandits demanding the removal of Article 370 then, when it also suited them as much as it suits Kashmiri Muslims?

Now let’s talk about slogans used in the movie. Slogan has always been a big part of any movement and so it has been in Kashmir. But the film shows some false slogans that was never a part of the public movement in Kashmir. The film shows Kashmiri crowd raising slogans like “Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or perish).” This is completely false. It was never a part of the ‘Kashmir movement’ in its entire history.

According to the movie, all Kashmiri Muslims support Pakistan, including Abdullahs and Muftis. The fun fact for readers of this article is that the so-called nationalist BJP has formed many governments with these so-called Pakistani supporters both at the Centre and in Kashmir.

The movie hails the present government at the Centre as if this is the first time the BJP government has come to power since 1990. I would like to remind people that in these 32 years, the BJP government has remained in power at the Centre for 14 years. We must not forget that it also formed government in Kashmir too. In these years, how many Pandits have been resettled in Kashmir?

Injustice has happened to Pandits but we can’t do justice to them with this kind of propaganda by building anti-Kashmiri narratives. Such kind of movie will further polarise the country and anger of people will be vented out on innocent Kashmiri students who are studying in universities and colleges in different parts of the country. These students have nothing to do with things which happened when they were not even born or were very young and had no say in the politics of the state.

Whether Pandits or Muslims, I think Kashmir is the real victim here. It has been victim for many centuries and still fighting the battle.

As told to Md Tausif Alam

* Hasan declined to share his picture for safety reasons. Respecting his wish, we have used a representational picture

‘The Kashmir Files Brings Alive Our Pain And Plight’

By LokMarg 17th March 2022

Ashwani Kachru, a Kashmiri Pandit staying in Gr Noida, says the movie also exposes the political and intellectual ignorance about his community’s struggle

First and foremost, I wish to congratulate Vivek Agnihotri, the director of The Kashmir Files, from the bottom of my heart. Never ever before this movie, the facts about the forced and violent migration of Kashmiri Pandits were laid out before the rest of the country so realistically.

Some of the scenes in the movie brought alive my own frightening memories of the 1990s. My house was located barely one km from the spot where four Air Force personnel were shot dead in Srinagar by terrorists. Other scenes of selective killings of Kashmiri Pandits; the horrific announcements made from places of worship against non-Muslims and; the Hindu families from the Valley living in fear… as shown in the movie, left me in cold sweat.

Agnihotri has the heart to call a spade a spade. This was not an exodus; this was a genocide – premeditated ethnic cleansing of Pandits from the crown of India. Radical Islamic groups supported from within the country and across the border distinctly targeted a peace-loving community in Kashmir and the unfortunate part is that all this happened in a free and democratic India.

Yet, no one in over three decades every talked openly about the pain and tragedy of the victims; in fact repeated attempts were made by the previous governments, terrorist sympathisers, liberal thinkers and the so-called intellectuals to misguide the people of India on this issue and to cover up the real face of a radicalised movement.

ALSO READ: ‘Kashmir Will Never Be Same Without Pandits’

I am glad, the issue is now being talked and how! The filmmakers have done justice to our sufferings by revealing the truth. Simultaneously, they have also exposed the brain-washed Kashmiris involved in our killings, a couldn’t-care-less government machinery, a section of the deaf and dumb media, and the intelligentsia.

Communal harmony is the proven culture of India since centuries and this could not be digested by terror sympathizers who want to dismantle the several thousand years old Indian secular structure.

I often wondered why those people in power kept quiet to our situation. It seems as if these people and organisations were funded to prove the terrorists in the Valley innocent. Spineless governments and judiciary never showed the courage to act against such anti-national elements.

Through your columns, let me also congratulate the state governments who have made this movie tax free, this will definitely help in conveying the message to a large section of our society.

I recently read media reports that a political leader, an ally of the Congress party in Assam, has demanded a ban on this movie. I feel the Congress party has remained at the centre of many major problems that India is facing today. Their declining vote share is a clear indication that the new and young Indians don’t want to continue with their policies any longer.

As told to Deepti Sharma