Despite being released in just 630 screens, director Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ earned over Rs 3.55 crores on its opening day, which is a record in itself, given the film is made on a small budget and doesn’t have any mainstream Bollywood star either. The movie, based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, has clearly outdone expectations, attracting enthusiastic audiences happily spreading positive word of mouth.
The film is being hailed for its “honest” and “earnest” attempt to bring forth the plight of more than five lakh Kashmiri Pandits who had to leave behind everything they had in the Valley in 1990. But it wasn’t a cakewalk to turn the script of ‘The Kashmir Files’ into a reality, reveals producer Pallavi Joshi, who also plays a key character in the movie.
“The shooting was the smallest part of our entire journey. The whole research, reaching out to people, getting money for the film, getting actors on board, everything was a massive challenge,” Pallavi tells us. The actress-producer further reveals that a Fatwah was issued against her and husband Vivek Agnihotri on the last day of the film’s shooting in Kashmir.
“The filming was the easiest part and probably the smallest part of it. In the four years that we dedicated to this film, shooting took only a month. The only thing that happened was when we were shooting in Kashmir, we received a Fatwah issued on our names. When that happened, we were fortunately on our last scene. I told Vivek, ‘Let’s finish this scene quickly and head to the airport.’ We were anyway leaving, but I told him, ‘Let’s not say anything and finish the shoot right now.’ Because we wouldn’t get another chance to come back. So we finished that scene and I sent a few people to the hotel and said, ‘You guys start packing and put everything in the bag and get it to the sets and we’ll leave from there.’ That was the only challenge we faced while shooting.”
A few weeks ago, Vivek Agnihotri had deactivated his Twitter account after receiving “ugly threats” in connection with ‘The Kashmir Files’. The filmmaker also spoke about the mental stress caused to him by such threats.
When asked if that’s why she isn’t on social media, ‘The Tashkent Files’ actress says, “I took a sabbatical from acting because my kids were growing up. I wanted to decide my own working hours. If I’m acting, I’m on the sets for 12 hours a day and I didn’t want to miss out on the magical moments of my children growing up. So, I turned to production. I did a lot of TV production because I had the liberty to decide my own working hours there. That was the time when I was on Facebook.
“Then you know how it is once you go online. You keep scrolling and chatting and then you feel compelled to comment on everything. Then one day I said to myself that if I left the work which I started very passionately at the age of 5 and put that on the back burner, why am I watching what’s happening in other people’s lives? Why am I wasting my time on this? And I just deactivated my Facebook account. After that, I decided I don’t want to be on social media.”
She adds, “I think I always have a smile on my face because I don’t even know the kind of crap that goes around because I don’t read it. But yes, Vivek is quite active and he keeps getting these (threats). Sometimes he tells me and sometimes he doesn’t. But it does get to you and it’s only human.”
The Kashmir Files, which was released in cinemas on March 11, also stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Mithun Chakraborty.
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