The Vivek Agnihotri-directed The Kashmir Files is the most talked about film in recent times for various reasons. One of them is political. The contentious movie is about the atrocities heaped on the hapless Kashmiri Pandits during the terrorist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s.
The film featuring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi in the lead roles, has had a remarkable run in the theatres since its release on March 11, 2022. It is said to be among the most successful movies (in terms of ticket collection) in recent times. The film, made on a budget of Rs 25 crore, is said to have made around Rs 250 crore.
Even as it is still available in the theatres, the platform Zee5 has announced that it will stream the film from May 13.
The pitiable plight of Kashmiri Pandits
The film's story unfolds in more or less a documentary fashion, and it showcases the atrocities faced by the Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, with many scenes inspired by real-life incidents. The film, without hiding where its sympathies lie, reveals, rather shrilly, the pain, dilemmas, and real face of the Kashmiri Hindus genocide.
"The film has managed to confound even the most liberal predictions and became one of the most influential pieces of cinema today," according to a statement from the streamer.
Actor Anupam Kher said: "The Kashmir Files is a depiction of an incident that happened with our people, years ago and is still not known to so many. The success of the film is a testimony to the honesty with which Vivek and the crew have worked on this project. The film received appreciation from all over the nation and now for those who couldn’t watch it on the big screen, The Kashmir Files will be available on ZEE5 across the world."
Darshan Kumaar added: "The Kashmir Files is very close to my heart as it has been a career defining film for me. I am overjoyed that it has turned out to be one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of the year. I am looking forward to its premiere on ZEE5 and am excited for it to reach many more people."
The Kashmir Files had also received high ratings on IMDb, the popular website hosting film and television audience reviews. However, the rating system for the film was later changed and brought down. A message on the IMDb page of The Kashmir Files read: "Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied." Vivek Agnihotri soon reacted to the rating change and called it unethical.
