Watched Kashmir Files. It’s indeed a genuine depiction of true tragic incidents of atrocities perpetrated on Kashmiri Pundits leaving the terrorists infested state under extremely compelling tragic circumstances. Dastardly killing a man with machine gun from point blank range, inside a drum who had taken refuge in it, on his wife’s persuasion, with blood emitting out of umpteen bullet holes watched by his horrified son, wife and aged father, shooting women on foreheads with pistols and twenty one Kashmiri Pundits, with their dead bodies falling on the grave already dug for them including children etc are the most brutal and horrendous acts of genocide. We may have differences of opinion but the hard fact remains intact that it was no less than a genocide on a community that always believed in amity, peace n brotherhood. However, according to a principal correspondent of TOI Sagrika Kissu in one of her tweets : While the film accurately depicted the horrors of exodus, it also pushed a narrative around it, in order to facilitate the director’s personal and political propaganda which seemed akin to that of the ruling party. She tweets further I write on Kashmir files in TOI. As far as my opinion goes, the violence and horrified atrocities perpetrated on Kashmiri Pundits in 1990 compelling their forced and traumatic exodus can’t be disputed or diluted with any political angle or controversy and those who have lost their near n dear ones and everything could only feel the traumatic pain, the scars of which are still fresh in their hearts n minds after more than three decades, for no fault of theirs. This black chapter is unforgettable ever, as are the 1992 scars of Mujaffarnagar tragic deaths and rapes of innocent women with several of them, men, youngsters and children going peacefully to a Delhi Uttarakhand Rally killed brutally n raped in sugarcane fields in the night. We are indeed speechless. The movie has been aptly shot on locations similar to Kashmir probably in Uttarakhand, giving a real impression of the incidents taking place in Kashmir valley’s original spots. The dialogues are up to the mark and local Kashmiri dialects aptly used to give the story a real look reminiscent of 1990 incidents. Special care has been taken not to mix much of politics except exhibiting certain political figures like the then CM and few bureaucrats, a Doordarshan journalist, senior police officer of higher rank etc but no light has been shed on the then Governor of J& K as well as then PM including the role of the state and central govt. machinery, which proved incapable of containing this genocide. Though the horrifying exodus and atrocities perpetrated on innocent Kashmiri Pundits ( the victims) have been genuinely depicted and reflected but much emphasis had been made on portraying the movie as a conflict between the majority and minority community, blaming the neighbours of their complicity with the terrorists, which may be true in selected cases definitely, but there had been several instances of many families of Kashmiri Pundits having been rescued and safely transported by minority community people to Jammu, saving several lives too. This aspect is missing. But one can understand the very fact that three hours were not enough to actually picturise the entire aspects of these tragic mis- happening due to time constraints and several other reasons. Hence, conclusively, the director, producers, story writers and actors of the movie deserve commendations with Pallavi Joshi, Puneet Issar, Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakravorty, Darshan Kumar, Aman Iqbal, etc performing extremely well. The movie has till now, after two week’s of its screening in over two thousand theatres has earned more than 150 crores, almost running house full, having been made tax free in majority of the states. The Kashmir Files has, therefore, while given a great solace to the traumatic Kashmir Pundits n their families after three decades, it has also made their children aware of the hard facts which had been concealed from them by their parents till yet to keep them away from a dark chapter of trauma and genocide. It has also opened a new chapter for film makers to come out with several other naked truths happened with other communities from time to time inspiring them to come out with more films on such realistic events in the near future. It seems that the director of the film Vivek Ranjan despite inviting criticism from his critics has done justice to the cause of suffering Kashmiri Pundits to a great extent. Kindly recall that the movie is primarily centred around the dastardly killings of Kashmiri Hindus in and after 1990’s forced exodus of innocent Pundit families highlighting the brutal murders by the then separatist extremists Yasin Mullick of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF leader n terrorist Bitta Karate. Yasin Mullick is in jail now accused of the broad daylight killings of five Air force personal including its commander. Bitta Karate who had openly admitted in one of his interviews to media about killing twenty one innocent Kashmiri Pandits was in jail for 16 years under public safety ordinance, finally released on bail in 2006. The leader of JKLF Bitta Karate had in 1994 called for a ceasefire though prior to this he had committed lot of bloodshed. He also had charges against him for Amarnath killings etc. The movie Kashmir Files exhibits all these genocidal killings.
