Kashmir Files once again went into news when Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted an information which stated that the state of Singapore decided to ban ‘Kashmir Files’ as it felt that the film depicts one-sided portrayal of Muslims. Tharoor took the matter to Twitter and tweeted,”Film promoted by India’s ruling party, #KashmirFiles, banned in Singapore.”
Responding to this, Vivek Agnihotri too took to Twitter and replied,”Singapore is most regressive censor in the world. It even banned The Last Temptations of Jesus Christ (ask your madam)Even a romantic film called #TheLeelaHotelFiles will be banned.
Since release, Kashmir Files has been into news for one or the other reasons, be it depicting of genocide of Kashmiri Hindus for the very first time in the mainstream media, objection from the opposition or the narrative which the film secretly tries to instill in minds of people via the documentary cum cinema using creative liberty at its own terms.
Before moving further, let’s first appreciate the efforts of Vivek Agnihiotri, Director of Kashmir Files, who showed the courage to document the pain that had not even been discussed in the nation so far seriously. This was one of the major reasons why Agnihotri’s attempt to portray the brutal killing aka exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits went straight into the heart of the people and thus turning the film an overnight success.
However, the film deliberately targets JNU on account of ANU, depicting that both its professors and students do not believe in the feeling of nationhood(not even students of ABVP,LOL), the feeling of Indianness and aims at creating havoc in the country on the account of Azadi. A 53 year old university, which holds a proud history of delivering education in the most creative way, targeting such a university for no reason could have been avoided.
The film apparently targets Congress and Farooq Abdullah’s National Conference, however the film surprisingly(actually not) stays silent when the exodus actually happened. During the period of exodus(1990) VP Singh was in power and BJP was an alliance of the Centre that time. Shakil Akhtar, a journalist, says over the exodus,” The governor Jagmohan facilitated the transportation of the Pandits and did not provide them with the security. However, the film chose to stay silent over the fact.
Well amid all the controversies, efforts made for Kashmir Files should still be appreciated and one should really watch it if not watched yet as finally someone decided to take up the issue to the general public.
Conclusion
Agnihotri announced his next project 'Delhi Files', which would be reportedly based on the Sikh Riots. Surely it would be yet another chapter that might bring shame in the eyes of the responsible of the time, however, still there are high chances that the film might again try over setting a certain agenda or narrative to the minds of people, which should be kept aside from cinema, ethically.
