The distorted view of 'The Kashmir Files'

‘The Kashmir Files’, a disturbing film on exodus of Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) from the Valley at the start of militancy in 1990, has no doubt portrayed their pain, struggle and suffering. But at the same, the Vivek Agnihotri-directorial has vilified common Kashmiri Muslims as well.

The controversial movie, released last Friday, tells the fictional story of a university student who discovers that his Kashmiri Pandit (KP) parents were killed by Islamist militants and not in an accident as his grandfather told him.

To establish the film's backdrop, Agnihotri has quoted works like genocide, holocaust and murder of 4000 Kashmiri Pandits (KPs). In contrast to his observations, in 2010, the Jammu and Kashmir government in the Assembly had said that 219 KPs were killed by militants since 1989.

The pain of KPs is real and must be expressed in popular culture. But it deserved a more nuanced, and objective take rather than the ‘us vs them’ worldview that Agnihotri has propagated over 170 minutes. It may help heal the wounds of the KPs but the stereotyped portrayal of Kashmiri Muslims, and the message the movie sends, is bound to further deepen the fault lines between the two communities.

Agnihotri, who is also seen as a BJP supporter, has been accused of inaccuracies in his work. His claims that the US state of Rhode Island had recognised the “Kashmir genocide” through a citation for his film have been termed as misleading and false.

Across the country, the movie is running to full houses and it has crossed the 100 crore-mark at the box office. Theatres are increasing the number of shows and cutting those of 'Radhe Shyam', another big-budget film starring Prabhas.

While the supporters of the movie say it shines light on a neglected, bloody part of Kashmir’s history, critics say it’s careless with facts, Islamophobic, divisive and provocative.

Sagarika Kissu, a Kashmiri Pandit journalist, while commenting on the movie, Tweeted: “Not every Muslim is a terrorist/militant or a terrorist sympathiser. We should be very sensitive when we paint all of them in one colour. This movie sets in a very bitter emotion for Kashmiri Muslims as whole. Ends (sic).”

However, she was countered by one Sanjay Pandita: “Let it be reminded that time every I repeat every Kashmiri Muslim was a sympathiser of militancy and they danced over every death. Maybe you were too young or not even born then. Truth is Kashmiri Muslims were completely drunk with communalised radical venom.”

The movie has been heavily promoted by the BJP and over the weekend, prime minister Narendra Modi met Agnihotri and his wife, actress Pallavi Joshi, who features in the film as a left-liberal professor. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, after having met the film's makers and actors, said "The Kashmir Files' brings out the pain, and struggle of KPs before the world".

However, politicians like PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti criticised the manner in which the BJP government promoted the move. “The Kashmir Files film and weaponizing the pain of Kashmiri Pandits makes its (Center’s) ill intention obvious,” she said.

“Instead of healing old wounds and creating a conducive atmosphere between the two communities, New Delhi was “deliberately tearing them apart,” she added.

Even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the movie was mostly fiction and called it a 'conspiracy.'

In the Valley, the controversy is stemming not so much from the history of the exodus - as no-one is refuting that it happened - but from the manner in which the story has been told, and who told it.

“Nobody can deny the KPs exodus or killings in 1990. It is a reality that a few hundred KPs were killed by militants in the early years of the insurgency but at the same time, thousands of Kashmiri Muslims were killed by both the militants and the security forces in the last 32 years. Why does nobody speak about it?” asked Ashiq Hussain, a college student.

He said that the film propagates hatred towards the Muslims and can lead to attacks on Kashmiris working or studying outside.

In the final scene of the film, Krishna, the lead character, says, “It’s not just the KPs who were killed but all moderate Kashmiri Muslims were also silenced and that’s where they failed.” This sounds real as the fear of guns not only frightened the KPs but Muslims as well.