New Delhi: The Kashmir Files star cast was in the national capital Monday. The likes of Pallavi Joshi and Anupam Kher reminisced about their experiences while doing the film. Pallavi Joshi plays a key negative character in the movie. She essays the role of ‘Professor Radhika Menon’, who is a professor in JNU and motivates her students to fight for ‘Azad Kashmir’.
Pallavi talked about the time the team spent in Kashmir for shooting the movie. She said that one particular incident jolted her.
“One day a small 4-5 year old girl came to me and after pleasantries, she asked me when I am going for Namaz. I said I don’t do Namaz because I am a Hindu. The girl told me something that just shocked me. She told me ‘so what … you should do Namaz because it is essential…’,” Pallavi informed.
“I was shocked because the little girl didn’t know that there are other faiths also. It exemplifies the kind of radicalization that is happening in Kashmir. This is very dangerous,” added Pallavi.
Pallavi said she played negative role in the movie to expose the lies and help the truth to come out. “I hope I have been able to do justice to my character,” Pallavi said. “I want every Indian to hate my character… then only I will feel I have done a good job,” she added.
On the other hand, Anupam Kher’s incredible performance in The Kashmir Files has been garnering critical acclaim. Kher called it the result of the pain of being a Kashmir Pandit himself and listening to the tragic stories of his community members.
“I act… play roles… but this time I have not played any character. I didn’t. The Kashmir Files is not about dialogues… 32 years ago what happened to the Kashmiri Pandits … 90 crore people of the country were silent, the police had vanished… the Army was in the barracks… nobody knew what happened to us. There’s been no trial, no one has been punished. The film is about knocking on the souls of every Indian. I am Pushkar Nath,” Kher told the media. “It is not a film but a wound that can never be healed,” the actor added.
Kher said the movie presented a truth that had never come out. His character of ‘Pushkar Nath’ is central to the movie; it is the soul of the gut-wrenching movie.
“Nobody spoke about the Kashmiri Pandits. Nobody had any knowledge about the trauma they went through. It was Abhisekh Agarwal, a producer from Hyderabad, who came forward for the movie when there was no one to support,” informed the veteran actor.
Kher slammed those who are spreading misinformation about what happened in Kashmir. Reacting to the now-deleted tweets by the Kerala unit of the Congress, which alleged that the Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley under the directions of the then Governor, of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan, Kher said, “Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi were Kashmiri Pandits and Rahul Gandhi is now heading the party. The Congress should not have done this. It was insensitive.”
He added: “When people are appreciating, applauding and embracing the film that is what matters. More and more people are talking. At the airport when 12-15 people tell you that they saw The Kashmir Files, and say, ‘Sorry we didn’t know about this’, and then a security officer says, ‘Kher Sahib, your movie stirred us’, it means that the film is reaching the masses.”