‘The Kashmir Files’ has been embroiled in many controversies even before its release. Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the film is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. It was recently cleared for its scheduled release on March 11 from the Bombay High Court, which dismissed a petition that said it was “propaganda promoting hatred against the Muslim community”.
However, Pallavi Joshi, the producer and actor of The Kashmir Files, remains unconvinced of the allegations and calls the film a “touchy” subject. He says that his main focus is to bring back the sufferings that Kashmiri Hindus had faced in the Valley. Everyone’s attention in 1990.
“We have seen Kashmir only through a political lens. We have seen Kashmir only as a disturbed area. Apart from Gulmarg, Srinagar and Sonmarg in Kashmir, we are not aware of the fourth place. But there is much more than that. Unfortunately, India and Pakistan went through a terrible partition in 1947. Although partition ended for us after a few months, it never ended for Kashmir,” Pallavi tells us.
Elaborating further on why making a film on Kashmir always leads to controversies, Pallavi says, “India and Pakistan were divided on religious lines and this fight continued in Kashmir so there was always this division between Hindus and Muslims. The only thing is that while Muslims were a minority in the rest of India, Hindus were a minority in Kashmir. When the whole operation was launched by Tupac Zia-ul-Haq (former President of Pakistan), the idea was to remove all Hindus from the valley and merge Kashmir with Pakistan. So terrorism started. Young boys and girls were radicalized by terrorists to believe that we are giving you separate Islamic State of Kashmir which never happened and will never happen because Kashmir is a part of India. Had it not been such an important part of India, we would not have had all our money, resources and our army deployed in Kashmir. So when this division happened on the basis of religion, everything you touch about Kashmir becomes one sided.
“I have yet to see a film that shows the Muslim perspective of the Valley as well as the stories of people and children born after 1990. Has anyone made a film on what they are doing?”
Pallavi, whose character inspires students to continue the agitation and protest for an independent Kashmir in the film, says she was approached by Kashmiri Pandits to make a film on the subject.
“We knew about this tragedy only in pieces and pieces. The widespread opinion was that Kashmiri Pandits had left the Valley because of terrorism which was complete nonsense. They were forced to leave the Valley and were given guns and swords. Today we live in a cosmopolitan society and we are surrounded by diversity but that is not the picture of Kashmir as there is no diversity.
“So, the moment you want to make anything on Kashmir, and especially if you want to make something on the tragedy of Hindus and I’m calling it ‘tragedy of Hindus’ because the reason it happened was their faith, and so We are talking about Hindus, so obviously there are going to be many questions like, ‘Oh, you will make a propaganda film.’ What is a propaganda film? Am I making a film for a Hindu nation? I am just telling the story. When Jews make a film on the Holocaust or Steven Spielberg makes a film on The Holocaust, nobody asks them if it It is a propaganda film. We have made a film about a section of the society who has been displaced from their ancestral homes for the last 32 years and I think it is a very touching subject.”
The Kashmir Files starring Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty has been screened in multiple locations including the United States, Jammu and Delhi, and Pallavi says the response has been “overwhelming”.
“We started the Indian leg from Jammu. Jammu was like an acid test for us. Everyone who suffered (during the Exodus) has now moved to other parts of the world, but Jammu is still home to a large number of people and it has been the hardest for them. For successful people, it’s still not okay, but they have something to look forward to. But for the people of Jammu, I don’t know if there is any future that lies ahead and they just want to go back to Kashmir.
“The best response we could get was a hug from Kashmir Pandits after the film. They used to hug Vivek and me and cry on our shoulders and it was difficult to deal with that feeling, it was almost like a seal of identity that we have been sincere in telling their stories,” concludes Pallavi.
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