It has been 30 years since the Valley’s minority Hindu Kashmiri Pandit community “exodus.” The hotly contested circumstances of their departure between January and March 1990, and the issue of their return are an important aspect of the Kashmir story that has fed into India’s Hindu-Muslim polarization over the years, fueling the Hindu-Muslim differences in the Valley. Lets take a look at some of the most popular movies on Kashmiri Pandits trying to make the general audience aware of their situation.
Many movies has been made trying to demonstrate the situation of feelings of those who were forcefully moved. Here we will talk about some of these movies in detail.
Table of Contents
Top movies on Kashmiri Pandits:
The Kashmir Files (2022)
Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by him. The film, which was produced by Zee Studios, depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the Kashmir Insurgency.
Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi star. This is the second film in Agnihotri’s Files trilogy, following The Tashkent Files and preceding The Delhi Files.
Based on survivors’ testimonies, the film makes a strong case that this wasn’t just an exodus, but a barbaric genocide that is still being swept under the rug for political reasons. Living in exile for nearly 30 years, their homes and shops encroached upon by locals, Kashmiri Pandits continue to seek justice and, most importantly, recognition.
It’s strange that, despite the harrowing impact on displaced families, few films have addressed this incident. Anupam Kher’s heartfelt performance leaves you with a lump in your throat. Kher excels as a man yearning for his lost home. Pallavi Joshi is also very effective.
Given her talent as an actor, you wish her character was more complex. Chinmay Mandlekar and Mithun Chakraborty are both capable in their roles. It is a must-watch and one of the best movies on Kashmiri Pandits.
You may also like The Kashmir files review by a Kashmiri Pandit.
Shikhara (2020)
The night of January 19, 1990, was a dark one for all Kashmiri Pandits who had to flee their beautiful homes in the Valley and become refugees in their own country. 30 years after the mass exodus of approximately 4 lakh Pandits, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who was forced to flee his home in Kashmir, made a film to inform the world about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in Shikara.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced and directed Shikara, the 2020 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film. The film is based on the love story of a Kashmiri Pandit couple during the 1990s insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the subsequent exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. The movie was released on February 7, 2020.
The lead actors, Aadil Khan and Sadia, are naturals in front of the camera. They do convey the impression of a couple growing old together, their inner world unaffected by external turmoil because it is sustained by love.
Sheen (2004)
This plot revolves around the gutsy Pandit Amarnath, the sole Pandit who refuses to leave Srinagar. He is forced to do so after Muslim Jihadis brutally kill his son, just a day after a U.S.-based “Human Rights” group concluded that there was no violence and that peace reigned in the Kashmir Valley, which is being overrun by Muslim extremists who receive their “training” in Pakistan.
Amarnath realizes he faces an uphill battle in resolving his issues with his own government as well as the international community, which raises a hue and cry over the death of two or three Americans while erecting a wall of red tape and bureaucracy when it comes to the death of citizens of another country.
It is directed by Ashoke Pandite and was released on 7th May 2004. It has some of the most popular actors like Raj Babbar, Anup Soni, Mukesh Rishi, etc.
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