Based on true events of the Genocide and Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the Kashmir Insurgency, The Kashmir Files is a must watch purely because of the horrifying truth it unravels. This story needs to be heard and the film tells it with impact and will surely give you GOOSEBUMPS.

After the ‘Tashkent Files’ of 2019 which did well both critically and at the box office, Vivek Agnihotri is back with another film based on the same theme of investigating the truth behind underreported and lesser-known events. The Tashkent Files was based on investigating Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death while The Kashmir Files unravels the facts and truth around one of the most underreported human tragedies, the Kashmiri Pandit massacre and genocide and the Exodus that happened in Kashmir in 1990.

The film revolves around Krishna, a college student who heads to Kashmir to perform the last rites of his grandfather, a Kashmiri Pandit who always wanted to return to Kashmir ever since the exodus. The grandfather i.e. Pushkar Nath’s role is played by Anupam Kher who also happens to be a Kashmiri Pandit in real life. On his deathbed, he asks Krishna to go to Kashmir to meet four of his best friends and perform the final rites in their family house in Kashmir. While he goes there to do so, he figures out about his family’s horrifying past and how his own parents were murdered along with other Kashmiri Pandits, who were not only extruded from their birth land but viciously massacred. He faces conflicts with the ideologies he has grown up with and that the world has mistakenly ended up believing to be true. But comes back with a changed perspective unravelling through the brutal facts and truth.  

In terms of characterization, the characters aren’t well layered and very forcibly fit in the plot. Amongst the four of his friends, one is a Police Officer, other a Politician, another a Media Person and the last, a doctor- all of whom had witnessed the horrifying events. Other characters including that of Pallavi Joshi, who plays Krishna’s professor is very poorly written. Apart from this, the screenplay is very loose with a lot of back and forth, many a times making you lose perspective. The dialogues though, are well written and make the needed impact.

In terms of filmmaking, the film might not be the best in craft, but the story it wants to bring forth are something that everyone should hear and know. Regardless the flaws, what stays with you is the way the brutal murders have been depicted. Nerve wracking and horrifying. You’ll be chilled and have a body full of goosebumps. Having said this, The Kashmir Files is not for faint hearted. It has also been rated ‘A’. So, if you think you are someone who is affected by graphic violence, you might want to stay away.

The performances are another factor that gives this film the impact that it makes. Anupam Kher is absolutely brilliant. So more as the old Pushkar Nath in the second part of his character. Darshan Kumar is great as Krishna. The last monologue he delivers is fantastic. Though, the transition in his beliefs and ideologies and his grief after confronting the truth is less apparent in his act and very unconvincing. Mithun Chakraborty performs well but has very less room to brew this time. Pallavi Joshi is great as the propaganda motivated professor.

The camera work is very nice and it so well presents the beautiful Kashmir in a dark and depressing tone. The BGM adds the needful to the plot. The direction in terms of the hold over actors is great but not so great over all. The grip on narration and flow of the story could have been smoother.

On the whole, everyone should watch this film to know and witness the horror that the Kashmiri Hindus have gone through. It is films like these that educate, inspire and make us more aware as citizens. Kudos to the makers for picking up such sensitive topic. The Kashmir Files that was supposed to release on Republic Day, got postponed due to the Omicron variant scare and is now finally screening in a cinema near you.

You can watch the trailer here: