The Kashmir Files Review:
Vivek Agnihotri's Film is the Closest to the Truth, Unlike Any Other in the Past Vivek Agnihotri's film is the closest to the truth, unlike any other in the past. Unlike any other film about the exodus thus far, The Kashmir Files is pain in its purest form because it is the closest to the reality.
The Case of Kashmir
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is the director.
Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Bhasha Sumbli, and Darshan Kumaar star in the film.
As I sit in the hall watching the timeline of the Kashmir Genocide flash by on the screen, I notice three men sitting beside me: one has been bitten twice by deadly scorpions in Muthi camp, one was born in Jammu and has lived through the aftermath of neo-poverty, and one Dogra, who migrated when he was ten years old after his father was shot in the leg. As their past comes to life, they all cry uncontrollably. During intermission, I go to the restroom and encounter a woman who is crying and repeatedly cleaning her face.Another lady consoles her and informs me that the two KPs hanging from a tree in the middle of a frigid January 1990, as shown in the final scene before the intermission, were her brother and father.
The storey of Pushker Nath Pandit (Anupam Kher) and his family is told in The Kashmir Files. It's a storey of rotten optimism, a dismal system, the struggle for one's dignity, and the circle of deception all at once. Call me biassed, but I believe this is Anupam Kher's best film to date.PN Pandit is more than a single individual. We're all to blame. It's a reflection of our tragedies, shards of glass that haven't yet fallen off our flesh. It's suffering in its purest form because, unlike any other film before it, it's the closest to the truth. None of the deaths were made up, the tragedies were not random, and the wounds were not exaggerated or understated.
I honestly lack the strength to sit with my father and watch this film, so I shall request that he go alone. I don't think I'll be able to witness him sobbing in the dark over his unjust existence, his distorted lines of fate, and his awful present, in which his wife is unable to walk, the same woman who caught speed 'nanvouri' while racing for that Jammu bound sumo with a daughter in hand on that night in 1990. I wish I could go back in time to that very day and assist Mom in selecting some comfortable footwear. Because her discomfort indicates that her blisters haven't healed yet.
My Kashmiri friends, who used to respond to my genuine emotions with "humne wo sab nahi kiya," now fall mute whenever a KP is killed in the valley. And, to be clear, they will not watch the film but will still declare it to be a web of lies since their approval is more important than embracing reality.
There is a faint second when you see no light in their eyes – that tells me – how on the interim night of 1990 the sky broke into a million pieces of that misfortuned glass and punctured all our hearts, heads, and feet, and we have all been bleeding since.
In 1990, as Kashmir resonated under the announcements of Raliv Galiv ya Chaliv, five lakh Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave everything behind. After that, the rest is history. Forgotten. On March 11th, The Kashmir Files, a film based on the genocide of KPs, will be released. Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Bhasha Sumbli, Darshan Kumaar, and others give powerful performances in this film directed by Vivek Agnihotri.
