Hi all, I am just penning my thoughts down on what I experienced today. I witnessed a standing ovation and a thunderous applause in a houseful theatre for a movie with hardly any promotion, no big stars and a small number of screenings. That's quite rare, isn't it?It was my first time seeing elderly, middle-aged and even teenagers walk out of theatres literally with teary swollen eyes. Each one of them had their reason to feel the way they did. The brutally honest scenes in this movie, although too gory to watch, will bring you face to face with the unspoken truth of the Kashmiri Pandits. Although I don't belong to a family who has been a victim of this dreadful act, I definitely empathise with them for what their families must have gone through.Anupam Kher delivers his entire career's best act. I don't think he can ever beat this performance of his. His role represents all the first generation victims who had to move cities or even countries to rebuild their lives. He represents all those who lost their near and dear ones. He represents all those Kashmiri Pandits who, when you meet today, put up a happy face, but behind every smile is a dark, unforgettable past. Honestly, I walked into this theatre just like the character Krishna Pandit (played brilliantly by Darshan Kumar), confused between what's right, what's wrong or, rather, who is right or who is wrong. I walked out of this theatre with an urge to know why we as a country failed to provide justice to our very own. I walked out understanding how we have been conditioned all these years to let go of the past, forget and move on, while incidents such as this have to be acknowledged and remembered for generations to come. This movie reminds you that being human is more essential than being anything else. I asked myself multiple times if these scenes depicted true events that took place or was it just the makers using their creative freedom as mentioned in the disclaimer. Unfortunately, all of it was true. Just imagine - what would you do if you were told to vacate your only home within 48hrs? What would you do if you were to live in a place where there was a constant threat to your family? What if you were forced to convert your faith, leave or die? Honestly, we have known all kinds of battles, but the battle for dignity and life itself is the most difficult of them. Today, while I saw people of my grandparent's age sob and walk out of the theatre, I truly realised how an entire community is still fighting this battle. A battle for justice, a battle for being heard and a battle that has been over three decades long! In a nutshell, Vivek Agnihotri's "The Kashmir Files" became so overwhelming that it reminded me of this poem on humanity from one of the Jashn-e-Rekta events. किसी को क़ुरान में ईमान ना मिला.. किसी को गीता में ज्ञान ना मिला.. उसको आसमान में रब क्या मिलेगा.. जिसको इंसान में इंसान ना मिला.. - Shwetha Kamath#thekashmirfiles
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