The Kashmir crisis, Pandits included

There are few communities in India yoursquoll notice that even in the most urbane cosmopolitan drawing room settings would quite instantly identify themselves by their caste first I can think of TamBrahms Tamilian brahmins Jats from Haryana in particular Rajputs from Rajasthanhellip Kashmiri Pandits brahmins is anotherWhich could be for how distinct they are as a communitymdashuniversally educated a small Hindu minority in a Muslim majority state sufferers of an insurgency that started in the Valley 1989 onwards chiefly abetted by Pakistan as a direct instrument of its state policySuch that lakhs of them were exiled so many killed Itrsquos semantically immaterial whether you term their plight genocide or exodus or debate on statistics Death and displacement of even a single person is just thatmdashcrime against humanity Voluntary migration is another matter But even there much to my surprise only 5 per cent Indians live in a city that is not of their birth Home is homeIrsquove met no Indianmdashno matter what their economic or political leaningsmdashwho doesnrsquot sufficiently sympathise with the cause of Kashmiri Pandits who lost their life and dwellings They were pushed into refugee camps within their country based merely on who they pray to It should happen to no one No matter what their faithHow can you not empathise Everyone does And surely a film that shines a light on that plight is an important work As is Vivek Agnihotrirsquos The Kashmir Files Even if it bombastically brutally scrapes off bandage to refresh woundsIn as much as Rakesh Sharmarsquos Final Solution 2004 Rahul Dholakiarsquos Parzania 2005 Nandita Dasrsquos Firaaq 2008 were for 2002 Gujarat riots Or Shonali Bosersquos Amu 2004 was for 1984 Delhi riots Only that Kashmir is historically a lot more complicated stillIn the sense that as a character in Agnihotrirsquos film puts it this was a princely state whose people were promised plebiscite once Jammu amp Kashmir acceded to India after independence At the same time though you can argue by sheer dint of a twonation theory itrsquos not like any princely state got independence anywayThe savagery of some separatists likewise doesnrsquot help with seeing them as anything close to principled freedom fighters in the vein of how India had against the British The excesses of the Indian Army in Kashmir canrsquot be denied either Vishal Bharadwajrsquos Haider 2014 details that It was handed the National Award for Best Screenplay among several National Awards in 2015 under the BJP governmentTherersquos the third angle of Pakistan backed terrorism that have been rightly denounced and demonised also lampooned by the dozen in Hindi films Irsquove met no Indian who sides with terrorists In The Kashmir Files Agnihotri claims that the Indian news media calls them ldquorebelsrdquo A character in the film says ldquoThink of politics as a story with a hero There must be a villainrdquoThe news media is decidedly shown to be the villain Only that the mainstream Indian press has by and large toed the officialgovernment line on Kashmir ever since Irsquove been its regular consumerOf course I was a child in 1990 when Kashmiri Pandits were exiled en masse But there was hardly any private news outlet then barring Newstrack that I can remember which wouldrsquove strongly covered this tragedy surely For research in the film the camera points towards news clipsThe other villain in this piece are young college students in a university modelled on JNU with an election around the corner being brainwashed by a professor These are young college students with a pen in their hand for heavenrsquos sakeThe film makes a point about how ldquofalse news is less dangerous than hiding truthrdquo And yet for a movie thatrsquos effectively centred on January 18 1990 while the state pretty much dissolved its monopoly over violence to maintain rule of law letting terror prevailmdashthe audience is never told which was the central government in powerIrsquom googling National Front Who was the Prime Minister VP Singh Who became the governor right after Jagmohan Isnrsquot it a crying shame that despite several governments over three decades plus the Kashmiri Pandits who left havenrsquot quite returned yet Every other conversation is tokenism for activism then isnrsquot itAgnihotri belongs to Indiarsquos ruling elite headquartered in Lutyensrsquos New Delhimdashwith direct access to the nationrsquos Prime Minister His picturersquos polemic aside and polemic is a legit genre after all what you canrsquot denymdasheven if yoursquove seen his first film Chocolate 2005 which was an uncredited remake of The Usual Suspects 1996mdashtherersquos a certain above the baseline hold over his filmmaking toolscraft extracting credible performances from actors as wellAs is the case with The Kashmir Files Hence an applause after the 170minute screening that I experienced in my theatre in Mumbairsquos Bandra This is rare unless a film is playing at a festival There are also clips circulating online of angry audiencesBut what exactly is the call to action if not adequate rehabilitation judicial probe fair compensation promise of rule of law adequate security What good really is an eye for an eye tooth for a tooth limb for a limbMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper