Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, The Kashmir Files stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar and Pallavi Joshi. Despite being praised by Prime Minister Modi and garnering an unprecedented response at the box office, The Kashmir Files has been met with widespread silence in Bollywood. But why?
Director Vivek Agnihotri’s latest album ‘The Kashmir Files’, based on the exodus of Kashmir Pandits from the valley in the 1990s, has garnered the kind of reactions no one has seen for a long time. From India to the United States to Australia, film screenings are filled with people from all over the world. Not only did this film bring audiences back to the cinema in the post-Covid era, but it also brought the citizens of the country together like never before.
The box office figures for “The Kashmir Files” also mark a milestone. Made on a shoestring budget, the film, starring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi and Darshan Kumar, grossed over Rs 67.35 crore worldwide in just five days. Tuesday’s movie business is almost four times higher than its first-day earnings. According to film trade analyst Taran Adarsh, The Kashmir Files has become the most successful Hindi film of post-pandemic times. The whole nation, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is talking about the phenomenon created by this film, Bollywood has kept a stoic silence about its success.
Other than Kangana Ranaut and Akshay Kumar, no other Bollywood celebrities have commented or tweeted about the film. Office has shattered myths and preconceived ideas about the type of films that will perform at the box office in the post-pandemic phase.
Kangana took to Instagram and wrote a long note, which read, “Please note the film industry’s imperfect silence on The Kashmir Files. Not only the content, its activity is also exemplary. The investment and profit ratio could be such a case study that it will be the most successful and profitable movie of the year… Bullydawood aur unke chamche sadme mein chale gaye hai (Bollywood bullies and their cronies are in shock).” She concluded her note with: “Not a word sari duniya dekh rahi hai inko lekin phir bhi not a word (the whole world is watching but not them). Time is up!
Shaktiman fame Mukesh Khanna also mocked Bollywood for not promoting the film. He said, “Film ko promote kariye agar ye badebade promoters film ko promote nahin karate hain. Hamaari industry mein pata nahin kyon log khud ko Bharat se alag prove karte hain. I know why people in our industry turn out different from India. “When Vivek Agnihotri was asked about Bollywood’s silence on his film, the director told us: ‘Because the commentary of these elites on the film is important? India has changed! All these old factories are slowly collapsing. The Kashmir Files is a real account. The film is about real people and their tragedies. It’s not about Bollywood. My heart breaks when I go to the movies and women my mother’s age cry and touch my feet. People connect with the film on a different level and that’s more important.
Anupam Kher, who plays Pushkar Nath Pandit, whose family fell victim to violence unleashed by militants in 1990 in The Kashmir Files, said: “It’s not Bollywood, it’s real stories. To comment or not to comment on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to the response to ‘The Kashmir Files’, said the film had shocked ‘the whole ecosystem’ which claims to be the torchbearer of freedom of expression but does not want the truth to be told.
