Kashmir Files – The movie that unites or divides India?
Firstly, this isn’t a movie review or a preview. Not a review because I haven’t watched the movie. Not a preview because I am not writing what one should expect from the movie. Rather I am writing what the people, industry and everyone else is talking about. Factually on the box office front, this will end up being the movie that will be remembered for a long time. Made on a budget of 25 crores, the movie has already made close to 200 crores in just 10 days. A feat that nobody could even predict. Not even the director and the movie makers. But yes, it’s happening and it’s not stopping yet. Probably Kashmir Files will become the movie with the highest rate of return.
This is all about the box office action. Then there is another angle to the Kashmir files movie. There have been strong voices and critics. On one side, people have come out in large numbers to support the movie. On the other side, a certain group of people have vehemently opposed the movie. There have been protests on banning the movie. People even barged into the theatres and tried to block the screening of The Kashmir Files. Two opinions are strongly emerging out of all this. They are based on ideology. Let me try to pen them…
Right-Wing – The Government view on The Kashmir Files
To start with, the Government of India’s highest representative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come out open and asked people to watch the movie. PM Modi also attacked the opposition and the negative critics asking them to find out the facts and have some courage to take it. The right-wing is expecting people to watch in full numbers to understand the pain, agony and the unthinkable act that was committed on Kashmiri Pundits. Director Vivek Agnihotri was vocal and took on the questions from different media houses. The moot point from the right-wing ideology is to go and watch the movie. Not just PM Modi, Amit Shah and many other celebrities are in favour of movies. All that they want is, ‘Don’t question the freedom of expression of someone, go and watch the movie to know the real truth’.
Left-Wing – The Opposition’s view on The Kashmir Files
The opposition and the leftists have different opinions. The majority of them feel the movie is made fully to propagate hate and is indulging in false narratives. Starting with the congress politicians who have directly opposed the movie and are portraying BJP as the real culprit. The exodus which we called it to date and now the director wants to be called as Genocide happened in the 1990s. At that, the government in power at the centre was VP Singh from Janata Dal. BJP was the supporting party and in Jammu & Kashmir, just before the massacre had started, President’s rule was imposed. This has been the Congress’s point, a whataboutery…
Another section from the opposing gang is shooting different questions at BJP. Why was the movie Parzania banned from releasing? Parzania is a movie based on the Gujarat 2002 riots and is now being promoted by the leftists.
Not the left, not the right but My view…
Having said about the two views on the movie that is making history, The Kashmir Files is a must-watch movie for anyone interested in the History of Contemporary India. Not always movies are made on such subjects and one has to watch it to understand the point that the director is trying to make. You always don’t have to hate it or love it but can always be neutral on the subject. Freedom of expression which is the key component for any screenplay needs to be respected. But yes, some movies were banned in history and there will be movies that will be banned in the future too. People know which movies will be banned or maybe boycotted.
BJP as a political party and the party in power with a perceived nationalist tag will not lose on these chances. Multiple state governments have already made the movie tax free and most of them are from BJP ruled states. Whereas Tamil Nadu has been mostly silent but slowly is not allowing the high number of shows. The Kashmir Files is touching the bigger chunk of the audience and that is Hindus. On the commercial success front, many Hindus are wanting to watch the movie. If any research is done on the religious viewership of the movie, the result won’t be a shocker. There is a motive behind this movie that BJP understands well. The opposition also understands it and so do the leftists who oppose the Government.
One learning from this mega movie saga is clear, with this movie the dynamics of the country have changed. It is not the policy, but a movie made with no big stars, low budget and no great promotions is doing wonders. It has strengthened Government and weakened the opposition. Finally, the reality is the country is polarised and it will remain like this from now on…
