Reportedby| Paul Mitchel
8-Feb.- 2023

 

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        The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. The film presents a fictional storyline centered around the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Indian-administered Kashmir. It depicts the exodus and the events leading up to it as a genocide, a notion that is widely considered inaccurate by scholars. The film claims that such facts were suppressed by a conspiracy of silence.

Though the movie has huge success as it was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022, but also it gains a lot of critics from Indian famous actors such as
Actor Prakash Raj has vehemently criticized The Kashmir Files, calling it 'one of the nonsense films'.
At a recent event, Prakash also called out the film's director Vivek Agnihotri and said that the producer of the film is 'shameless'. He also claimed that The Kashmir Files is a 'propaganda film'.
Prakash was one of the speakers at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters in Kerala last weekend. At the event, Prakash said, "The Kashmir Files is one of the nonsense films, but we know who produced it. Shameless. International jury spits on them. They are still shameless. The other fellow, the director is still telling, ‘Why I am not getting Oscar?’ He will not even get a Bhaskar."

 

The Kashmir Files stars Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi. The plot follows a Kashmiri Hindu college student, raised by his exiled grandfather and shielded from the knowledge of the circumstances of the death of his parents. After his grandfather's death, the student, who had come to believe at college that the exodus was benign, becomes driven to uncover the facts of his family's deaths.

The plot alternates between the student's quest in the present time, 2020, and his family's travails of thirty years before. The film was released in theatres on 11 March 2022. It has been a commercial success, seemingly benefitting from promotion by India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and tax benefits.

The critical reception of the film was mixed, with the cinematography and acting thought to be compelling, but the storyline attracted criticism for attempting to recast established history and propagating Islamophobia. Supporters have praised the film for showing what they say is an overlooked aspect of Kashmir's history. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several BJP ministers have praised the film. Theatres across India have witnessed hate speech against Muslims, including incitement to violence. As of 28 April 2022, the film, which cost approximately ₹15 crore (US$1.9 million)to ₹25 crores (US$3.1 million) to make, had grossed ₹340.92 crore (US$43 million) worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022.