`The Kashmir Files’: Israeli Filmmaker Presses Raw Nerve Of Right-Wing Filmmakers, `Sangh Parivar’

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Photo credit: DNA.

India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI— The ghost of `The Kashmir Files’ has returned to haunt right-wing Bollywood filmmakers and Sangh Parivar.

This time, the bell has been rung by none other than Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid who was the head of the jury at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Social media was filled with hate against Nadav. Even the Israeli Ambassador to India joined the chorus.

Nadav had called “The Kashmir Files” a “vulgar” and “propaganda” movie. Later, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz said that making bad films is not a crime, but Vivek Agnihotri’s directorial is “crude, manipulative and violent”.

“Making bad films is not a crime, but this is a very crude, manipulative, and violent propaganda film,” Lapid said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.

Even before the dust could settle, other jury members woke up from their slumber and supported Nadav much to the chagrin of right-wingers.

In a statement shared by jury member Jinko Gotoh on social media, fellow international jury members expressed support for Lapid’s stance on The Kashmir Files.

“At the festival’s closing ceremony, Nadav Lapid, the jury’s president, made a statement on behalf of the jury members, stating: “We were all disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, The Kashmir Files, that felt to us like a vulgar propaganda movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival.’ We stand by his statement,” the jury members said.

 “And to clarify, we were not taking a political stance on the film’s content. We were making an artistic statement, and it saddens us greatly to see the festival platform being used for politics and subsequent personal attacks on Nadav. That was never the intention of the jury.”

The jury members who issued the statement include Jinko Gotoh, Pascale Chavance, and Javier Angulo Barturen.

Even former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti supported the Israeli filmmaker for his statement.

“Finally, someone called out a movie that was nothing but sheer propaganda promoted by the ruling party to demonize Muslims, especially Kashmiris, and widen the gulf between Pandits and Muslims. Sad that diplomatic channels are now being used to silence the truth,” Mehbooba tweeted.

Why is `The Kashmir Files’ in the crosshairs of people particularly Muslims in the valley?

`The Kashmir Files’ is a movie that serves as a propaganda tool for `Sangh Parivar’ to mainstream anti-Muslim hate. If the abrogation of Article 370 was a watershed moment for BJP and its Parivar, `The Kashmir Files’ has provided enough oxygen to consolidate the gains. 

There is no denying that Kashmiri Pandits have suffered. For 32 years they have been living like refugees in their own land. When militancy started in Kashmir, KPs fled to Jammu in the dead of night to escape the bullets and bombs. They lived in camps in Jammu and Delhi before they started their lives afresh. Over the years, the exodus of Kashmir Pandits has been captured on celluloid with different twists. For example, movies like `Sheen’, `Shikara’, `I am’ and others.  Bollywood right-wing producers have been peddling hate and propaganda against Kashmir Muslims for a long.

`The Kashmir Files’, however, stands out. It has taken hate and propaganda to the next level. Riding on the piggyback of the state, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, every politician in the ruling coalition has been showering praises on the film.

What is disturbing are the calls for Muslim genocide. Indian audience is being served half-truths on a platter. It is being said that only KPs suffered in 32 years of militancy. Ministry of Home Affairs figures reveals more than 40,000 people including 22000 militants and 5055 security forces men have been killed from 1990 to March 31, 2017.

In the 2017 RTI reply, the chief public information officer of the union home ministry said 13491 civilians and 5055 security force personnel were killed in different terror attacks. Around 21,965 terrorists have also been neutralized by the security forces in the last 27 years. Nearly 13502 soldiers have also been injured while fighting with the terrorists.

The Kashmir Files tried to project that a savage genocide was unleashed against Kashmiri Pandits. If home ministry figures are taken at face value, though they are grossly understated, most of the victims are Kashmiri Muslims.  

A study conducted by Kashmir Pandit Sangrash Simiti (KPSS), an apex body of non-migrant pandits in 2011, revealed that 399 pandits were killed in Kashmir from 1990 to 2010. The number is much higher than the government’s figures of 219 pandits killed. Other pandit groups have claimed that more than 1500 Hindus were killed in Kashmir from 1989 to 1991 triggering migration. 

`The Kashmir Files’ has tried to dub Kashmiri Muslims as monsters. JNU has been dubbed as the hub of anti-nationals. Krishna (Darshan Kumar), a Kashmiri Pandit and student has been brainwashed by a university teacher Radhika Menon (Pallavi Joshi) into believing that the secessionist movement in Kashmir is akin to India’s Freedom Movement. Radhika’s character is fashioned from a famous writer who supports Kashmir’s struggle.

The film starts with hate and abuses in Kashmiri. A Kashmiri pandit boy who chants Sachin Tendulkar is being beaten up by Muslims. Muslims have been projected as demons who use cuss words invectives. When Krishna’s grandfather Pushkar Nath (Anupam Kher) dies, he visits Kashmir to immerse the ashes. He meets four of his grandfather’s friends who reveal the ‘real’ story of Kashmir to Krishna’s audience.

The film has peddled a narrative that is a half-truth. VP Singh was the prime minister and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was the home minister in 1990. Singh-led National Front was supported by BJP which had 80 MPs in the House.  Farooq Abdullah had resigned and the centre had appointed Jagmohan as governor to crush militancy. The same BJP which loathes National Conference was goodie-goodie with it when the party supported the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Even Omar Abdullah was a junior foreign minister in the Vajpayee government. During the 2002 Gujarat riots when even Ram Vilas Paswan resigned in protest, Omar stayed in the Vajpayee’s cabinet. But now the same National Conference is anti-national.  Congress was nowhere in sight in 1990. Its leader Rajiv Gandhi was facing the Bofors probe.  Yet Agnihotri makes people believe it was Congress in power. Article 370 too was incorporated.

It was not only Kashmiri Pandits who fled the valley. Even Muslims and Sikhs have also migrated. The entire National Conference leadership was living like refugees in Jammu. Even former minister Wali Mohammad Itto was killed outside a mosque in Jammu after he migrated from the valley. Official figures reveal that around 41,117 migrant families from Kashmir are registered in Jammu, and 21,000 others in Delhi and other states. Of the total migrant families living in Jammu, 37,128 are Hindus, 2,246 Muslims, and 1,758 Sikhs. 

Pain has no religion. Suffering has no father. Both Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits suffered. To cite a few examples, the Gow Kadal massacre, Kanun Poshpora mass rape, and Sopore inferno are still afresh. And the victims were Kashmir Muslims.  Yet no one in Bollywood will have the courage to show the human rights violations. Nearly 8000 Kashmiris are missing in custody. Is there anyone who will make a movie on it? Jails are filled and UAPA is being slapped randomly. Democracy has shut its door on Kashmiri Muslims. Yet no one will highlight their plight because that will not fetch them votes.

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