Shillong, July 21: After the success of the critically acclaimed film ‘The Kashmir Files’, national award-winning filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri unveiled the trailer of the series titled ‘The Kashmir Files Unreported’, which is far more eye-opening and spine-chilling.
The grand trailer launch event happened in Srinagar, Kashmir.
Woven together through real life anecdotes, survivor testimonies and archived footages, the trailer of ‘The Kashmir Files Unreported’ delves into the historical, ethnical, and geopolitical details, encapsulating the events, mistakes, crimes and circumstances that led to the massacre and mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s.
It goes on to portray the state of affairs which led to the abrogation of Article 370 and its repercussions on Kashmir today.
As seen in the trailer, the narrative is captured via conversations with historians, experts, real life victims and their families including experts like Dr Meenakshi Jain who was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 2020 for her work in the field of literature and education; Rakesh K Kaul who is the author of bestsellers ‘The Last Queen of Kashmir’ and ‘Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir’; Shesh Paul Vaid – the former Director General of Police of J&K; Manoj Raghuvanshi – ex TV journalist and the first journalist to do a lead story on terrorism erupting in Kashmir in July 1989; Dr. Tej Tikoo – Retired Colonel and veteran of 1971 Indo-Pak war and the author of ‘Kashmir: Its Aborigines and their Exodus’ among others.
While, ‘The Kashmir Files’ was a three-hour long movie which shook the nation, yet it was only the tip of the iceberg. This series is far more heart-wrenching, eye-opening and spine-chilling as it unravels the unreported realities, facts and the truth behind the massacre and the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits straight from the horses’ mouth.
It also maps the centuries old journey of Kashmir, hailed as the paradise on earth, its significance to India, its people and culture and their evolution from being a melting pot of civilisation and knowledge, to being repeatedly attacked, radicalised and systemically reduced to a warzone like condition of today.
Filmmaker Vivek said: “The genocide of Kashmir is a blot not only on India but on humanity. It is considered to be the biggest hidden tragedy of modern times. It was very important for us to tell this story honestly.”
“So far, in all the movies, literature and in media, what has been reported is contemporary. After 32 years when we made ‘The Kashmir Files’ based on four years of extensive research, it opened people’s eyes.
“But there were polarising views on the film – some felt that the movie portrayed only 10 percent of the reality and some felt that ‘The Kashmir Files’ was a propaganda film,” the director said.
“Therefore, it was important for us to open all the research and interviews we did in its purest and rawest form for people to understand that the truth is difficult to handle. I can guarantee that ‘The Kashmir Files Unreported’ will shatter your heart but the intention is so that we learn from history, and we develop a temperament of zero tolerance for terrorism and we stand up for humanity and our own people,” he added. (Source: IANS)