Movie Review: The Kashmir Files as a tale of justice
Mumbai: On Friday, the Bollywood film The Kashmir Files was released in theatres. The film minted a whopping 3.55 crores on day one and is rated 10 out of 10 by IMDb.
The film is based on the genocide and exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits during the Kashmir Insurgency in 1990.
The film revolves around a college student named Krishna Pandit, whose family was a victim of the insurgency. Unaware of the atrocities faced by the family, he is easily influenced by the twisted narratives presented by one of his lectures, Radhika Menon.
Krishna visits his homeland to fulfill his late grandfather’s last wish and gradually learns about his family through narratives presented by his grandfather, Pushkar Nath Pandit’s friends, who were meeting after 30 years.
As a college Presidential candidate with Kashmir issue as a mandate, Krishna is conflicted between what he sees and what he learned from Menon. There are undertones of suffering and brainwashing, and he is caught between the manipulators and the sufferers.
However, one of his grandfather’s friends, an IAS officer named Brahma Dutt, suggests he looks at the various documents Dutt had collected regarding the injustice against the Kashmiri Hindus. The documents prove to be an eye-opener as Krishna learns what happened to his mother and elder brother.
The protagonist returns to his college in the National Capital and stands for the rights of the family and several Kashmir Hindus who suffered a similar fate, he seeks justice for the innocent lives lost and people who failed to return to their homeland.
His mother and brother were among 23 others in the Wandhama massacre of 1998. The terrorist groups had conducted the horrific event in the Wandhama town of Jammu and Kashmir and killed nearly 25 Kashmiri Hindus on January 25, 1998.
Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, produced by Agnihotri and Abhishek Agarwal, and distributed by Zee Studios, The Kashmir Files is a high-octane drama showcasing rootlessness in the Indian youth.
It also talks about major topics like justice for the Kashmiri Hindus and freedom of the State from the Indian Union.
The film stars Darshan Kumar in the lead, followed by Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Chinmay Mandlekar, Prakash Belawadi, Puneet Issar, Mrinal Kulkarni, and Atul Srivastav in pivotal roles.
(Avya Mathur)
