The Kashmir Files. Again.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/AndheriWestMemes/posts/5443339599083844

A meme page I follow on Facebook (and run by a film-industry insider, Balram Vishwakarma) recently posted about The Kashmir Files. He said that it was ‘insisted by a very good friend from Jammu to watch it’ and wrote gushingly about it, saying, ‘All incidents around the KPs were sourced from first-hand experiences of the family of the victims.’ and ended with ‘Dekh lo.’ as his recommendation.

I have already written extensively on this issue recently. So, why do I bother to respond once again? Because normally, he is a very sane, intelligent, witty person who is mature beyond his years and I am kind of protective about him, like how humans are protective about rare species on the verge of extinction. OK, enough jest. Here’s my response:

Dear Balram,

Either your friend from Jammu is polarised already or this movie polarised him. The problem with the movie isn’t whether it is true, it is that it was made as a not-so-subtle dog whistle so that the gruesome shit on the screen will make a Kannadiga Hindu hate a Gujarati Muslim, both of whom had nothing to do with the events depicted in the film. In fact, and you can check this out with your own group, it can make an NRI Hindu settled in New Jersey hate a Palestinian Muslim settled in Australia. Hate has been the motivating factor in this film. From the very genesis of the idea. You know it. I know it. Vivek knows it. Anupam knows it. The distributors know it. The industry knows it. The Prime Minister knows it. The Finance Minister knows it. The Kashmiri Pandits know it. The Kashmiri Muslims know it. Everyone watching, every viewer knows it. But everyone critiquing it or writing about it is just expected to pretend this is about bringing awareness and speak only of the art and not the artist, only of the incidents depicted and not of the story, only of the apparent message but not of the underlying one. Indeed only of Kashmiri Pandits, but not of Kashmir. Bhai, aise thodi hota hai? Hum chootiye zaroor hain, lekin andhe bhi hain kya?

Here’s something you probably already know: It’s indeed quite easy to make a film with only facts and still be alternate history. For example, if I were to make a film only of people accidentally drinking or eating bad food and then vomiting, I can give you an impression that all food is bad even without showing you a single fake scene. By showing only those incidents where people ate bad food, I can very easily create an impression that that is all there is to food. Ditto, any other subject. I could literally make a film about your neighbour and make you hate them. In fact, that’s what this film actually is. This film isn’t going to make you love your KP friend more, because your KP friend has always been loved (unlike other migrants from Bihar, UP, Bengal, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam etc). This will just make you hate your Muslim friend. This is not a movie about creating heroes. It aims only to create villains. With a rather broad brush stroke. On purpose.

Now, about the ‘I firmly believe an oppressed person has all the rights in the world to talk about what they went through without worrying about checking on the politically correct checklist or something that creates a law & order situation. Even if it means that his painful story is made by a bunch of humans with questionable morals.’ You see, my friend, it is exactly these, the morals (which you agree are questionable), that matter. The means are as important as the ends, if not more. Especially when it comes to creating art that is intended to and succeeds in making some people want to kill other people. Art is about telling a story. A story must be limited by the attention span of its audience. So, the artist must pick and choose what parts of the story they want to tell. And here is where the intent of the artist comes to the fore. The story in itself is morally neutral and cannot be good or bad, except by the way it is told. But what the artist chooses to include and what they choose to leave out says much about the artist themselves, as it says about their moral compass, motivations, and character, and so, informs their art. In this case, it works in reverse: we already know what the artist’s moral compass, motivation, and character are like a priori because the artist has made it amply clear by self-describing most of these quite proudly and openly. So, what is to be said of the art this artist produces?

Mind you, I am nobody to decide who makes what film and who watches it. As an extreme free-speech advocate, I will defend Agnihotri’s right to make whatever shit he wants. But you can’t make me see it. Or say that because the incidents described in it are mostly true, the movie is a true reflection of reality.

The Kashmir exodus was real, the fear and pain were real, the atrocities were real. This film’s intent, however, is sinister. How do I know this? Can I see inside Vivek Agnihotri’s mind? No, I know this from his utterances, from the way I am being exhorted to go watch the film, and from the reaction of most people once they have watched it. I do not need to explain these reasons and reactions because they are all around us. Only the blind cannot see it. Or those that are pretending to sleep.

I hope I have managed to nudge you out of your drowsiness to open your eyes and at least see what is so clearly visible. I am sure you will change your mind once clarity returns and normality has been restored. I have that confidence in you.

With much love & kindness,

Kedar

P.S: There is one simple test to confirm whether or not the reaction to the film and the hate it is spawning was the intended result as per the maker of the film (the producers, directors, actors etc.), and it is this: If you were to make an honest film telling an honest story which was misinterpreted and misunderstood, which fanned the flames of communal passion and hate, which created tears in the social fabric and cracks in national (and I dare say, human) cohesion and fraternal feeling, would you hasten to condemn such incidents and clarify that your film was not about hate and that every person who is consumed by bloodlust after seeing your creation is only vomiting the poison already inside them and you neither condone nor stand by them, and in fact, condemn these people, their utterances, and their actions? Would you take the first available opportunity to come out against such bigots who are making inflammatory speeches and creating social tension (not to mention a law & order problem) and put them in their place as the creator of the art under discussion? Would you feel (and give voice to this feeling) horrified and disgusted at how your art is being used as fodder for calls for murder and mayhem? Would you? Or wouldn’t you? How did you answer the preceding questions? And now see how the actual makers and creators of The Kashmir Files have reacted to the public, open, and nationwide outburst of Muslim-hate by the audience who has seen this film. You will know immediately what the intention behind this film was and all your doubts will be cleared in an instant.