Anupam Kher starrer The Kashmir Files has become the talk of the town ever since its release. While the film is being widely appreciated by the audience and critics, it has also ignited a political war with some calling it a propaganda movie. Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also mocked BJP leaders for allegedly promoting the movie.
Days after, Anupam Kher has slammed Arvind Kejriwal’s comments on The Kashmir Files and has called it shameful. In a recent interview with Times Now, Kher attacked Kejriwal for being ‘insensitive’ and questioned him for dragging his movie into a political affair.
“After Kejriwal’s statement, I think every true Indian should go and watch this film in the theatre. The only way you can give a resounding response to his insensitivity is by collecting more money and connecting with more people from Kashmir…He was crude, insensitive and he didn’t think about the lakhs of Kashmir Hindus who were thrown out of their own homes, the women raped and people murdered. The people behind him were laughing and it was shameless. That was also happening in the state assembly…If he wants to have a political problem with the Prime Minister or the BJP, he should have just spoken about that. But to bring in Kashmir Files which the people are accepting, feeling guilty, and saying ‘We didn’t know this happened to us’…to say that it is a propaganda film or it is a lie I think it was shameful,” Anupam Kher said.
Anupam Kher also questioned Kejriwal for not making The Kashmir Files tax-free in the national capital. He also called the Chief Minister’s speech in the assembly a ‘stand-up comedy’ and added that an educated person should not have talked like this.
“He has not seen the film. It’s not that he hasn’t made films tax-free. Recently, he made 83 tax-free. He does believe that a film that is good should be made. But this film has gone beyond tax-free, it’s a movement. To rub salts on wounds of people who have suffered for the last 32 years is unbecoming of a chief minister. He was playing to the gallery, he was trying to do a stand-up comedian’s job over there… He should not come across as a caricature, he is a real person, he is an educated person, he is an IRS officer. Ek anpadh gawaar aadmi bhi aisi baat nahi karta hai (An uneducated person also doesn’t talk like this). It was not done,” Kher added.
Earlier, Anupam Kher had also tweeted after Kejriwal’s remark where-in her urged fans to watch the movie in theatres. “Ab to dosto #TheKashmirFiles cinema hall me hi jaake dekhna. Aap logo ne 32 saal baad #KashmiriHindus ke dukh ko jaana hai. Unke saath huye atyachar ko samjha hai. Unke saath sahanubhooti dikhai hai. Lekin jo log is tragedy ka mazaak uda rahe hain, kripya unko apni taakat ka ehsaas karayein. #Shame (Now friends, watch The Kashmir Files only in theatres. You have become aware of the pain of Kashmiri Hindus after 32 years. You have felt the torture they went through. You have expressed sympathy for them. But those who are making fun of this tragedy, please make them feel your power. #Shame),” he had written.
For the unversed, The Kashmir Files depicts the story of the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits. It is written and directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri. It stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi, and Chinmay Mandlekar in key roles.
