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Today's topic is a review and critical analysis of Movie: The Kashmir Files
Now, I am not taking any side however writing a review on what this movie showed me.🌚
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial dispute over the Kashmir area that began following India's 1947 partition when both India and Pakistan claimed the whole former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. This battle had evolved into three wars for territory between India and Pakistan and had been in the news since the partition.
The people of Kashmir, particularly Kashmiri Pandits, are suffering as a result of the wars and politics.
With the best medium to communicate stories (ie. movies), there have been attempts to portray and bring attention to the lives of Kashmiri Pandis who suffered a lot and whose stories were yet to be known to the masses.
The Kashmir Files is another such attempt and the most recognized one, It presents a fictional storyline centered around an evacuation of Kashmiri Hindus in the disputed region of Kashmir. It is a very powerful narrative of the pain, suffering, struggle & trauma of Kashmiri Pandits, seen through the eyes of Krishna, the protagonist. The film questions eye-opening facts about democracy, religion, politics, and humanity. The early-1990 evacuation is depicted in the film as a genocide, a notion associated with conspiracy theories and at odds with recorded events.
It was released very recently in March 2022, with Vivek Agnihotri as the director and writer, produced and distributed by Zee Studios, and a powerful cast lineup including Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar Pallavi Joshi.
Previous Attempts:
A major previous attempt to dig the truth was by Shikhara. Many people were left in disarray after watching the film because it offered a love romance set against the backdrop of the genocide of Kashmiri pundits, however, many felt like it delivered a sanitized version of the community's dramatic turn of events.
It lacks the political drama or the 'untold story of Kashmiri Pandits' that it promises to be, which is depicted brutally and honestly in The Kashmir Files, which can be unpleasant at times.
Direction:
Vivek Agnihotri is one of the best directors for films in this genre, who has also worked in the Tashkent Files, in the Kashmir Files, a film portrays several events that occurred in the Kashmir valley from 1989 to the present, including extremist groups causing mass hysteria and violence on the streets, executions of active members of society, and categorical religious cleansing of the valley that continues to fly under the radar of mainstream media.
Kashmir, which was once thought to be heaven on earth, had gradually devolved into hell in all its forms. Through this film, Agnihotri crafts a back-and-forth a narrative from the dramatic occurrences in Kashmir valley from 1989 to 2016, shedding light on the experiences of our protagonist Krishna pandit Darshan Kumar in Delhi as he studies in college and visits the valley for the first time since he was a toddler created and designed as friends of Pushkar Nath pandith reunite with one another in Kashmir and revisit the experiences they had while still tussling with Krishna a person coming to terms with his identity and what Kashmir represents to him in his life. This movie really overwhelmed me with varied emotions from anger to disgust to sheer discomfort and just a question, how? How can humans do this to each other?
This film is not for the faint of heart, and its message never came across as pushed in its story; it simply sheds light on the genuine and horrific acts that occurred in our own country, for which amends are still difficult and most establishments appear to turn a blind eye.
Cinematography:
When we think of Kashmir and films, we think of beautiful landscapes and color, and the state is frequently portrayed as a great background for romance. However, this movie shows a different Kashmir, one that is devoid of color and seemingly lifeless, like a corpse that goes pale and blue. Uday Singh Mohite has done an excellent job of capturing the lifelessness of a once vibrant and joyous state. This video is atmospheric in every manner, with greys and blues underlining the sense of normalcy that the town yearns for.
I wish some of the film's movement shots were smoother because critical parts are frequently out of focus as the camera moves, and the movie could have been more cinematic. I hate to say it but like most Hindi movies the production quality was quite low and the camera shots were not satisfying.
Also, I found it a little disturbing that the frequent transition between the past and present scenes was not very concrete till the end.
Acting:
I honestly loved the performances of many of the members of the cast. They struck out to me as genuine candidates who clearly grasped the task and performed admirably. I adored Mithun as Brahmadat, an IAS officer who appears powerless in a political system riddled with corruption and red tape. He maintains his calmness for the majority of the film's running minutes before bursting in to clarify Krishna's relationship with the state of J&K, impressionable youth who hasn't even scratched the surface of what happened in the valley.
It accurately depicts a terrible time in the life of a person who simply wants to be heard and acknowledged. Pallavi Joshi as professor Radhika Menon is hauntingly brilliant in this film as she dismisses the atrocities perpetrated against Kashmiri pundits, dismissing them as upper caste groups who had a minor inconvenience. While the character is an amalgamation of various individuals in real life, she never came across as one tone to me. The character's manipulative tactics in influencing Krishna account for moments that will make you disgusted, and this has a lot to do with the actor's conviction.
Anupam Khair's performance as Pushkar Nath pandit was extraordinary. In his interaction with his family especially his grandchildren and his friends on the growing concerns of the developments in the valley care he makes us believe he really is the person, he was portraying. He expresses his uneasiness and uncertainty with ease, but as the years pass and the man becomes a shell of what he once was, his portrayal of a man suffering from severe PTSD becomes slightly exaggerated. Anupam Khair, on the other hand, excels in a scene where he tells Krishna about the beauty of Kashmir and what and where he wants to be when he dies. It's not completely startling, but I found his portrayal to shine in most of the scenes but struggle in a few.
I have always found the acting part in Hindi movies the best, we have actors that make us forget that they are acting, and the set of star casts totally did a breathtaking job.
Plot:
The movie starts with a very impactful scene from the past where the protagonist's father was killed and leaves with guessing what exactly happened to others. After that, it introduced other main characters and protagonist in the present who are still dismayed by their past and does not tell the protagonist the full story as he may not take it well.
Later, we learn that the protagonist runs for his college elections and sets on a journey to find what exactly happened in the past while having people tell him both sides of the story.
The movie then moves back and forth between the past and the present and shows exactly what happened, who suffered, who made them suffer, and who remained blind to all of it.
Sometimes I got confused between the past and the present scenes when it hopped back and forth, so I wished it was more clear or had a clear transition.
Accomplishments:
I think that making such movies is very important, it uncovers many secrets that were unknown to the common public and a story that the government hid. This is right to freedom of speech at its best, it requires guts to make such a movie and the crew has done a wonderful job.
Many Indians including me, had no slightest idea that there were such conditions for a human being in our motherland.
The movie has got what it deserved, it is the highest-grossing Hindi movie of 2022 and crossed 300cr in global revenue. Some believe it should even get an Oscar but I think it won’t as it does not match the production quality that an Oscar-winning movie does, however, the goal of the movie is fulfilled and is a huge success.
