Before its release, the combined forces of the leftist, liberals and the Islamic cabal had burned the midnight oil to sabotage the film. Petitions were filed seeking a ban on its release. For a nation that thrives on movies and produces a colossal number of feature films annually, the mammoth efforts put into halting a film’s release may appear odd. But this was not just another run-of-the-mill movie. 

The Kashmir Files is a movie based on the true incidents of horror that the Hindus of Kashmir were forced to experience during the Hindu Genocide of 1990 by Islamic jihadis.

Back in 1990, there was a Hindu woman in Kashmir named Girija Tickoo. She worked as a librarian; she was on her way to collect her paycheck when she was thrown into a taxi by five men, one of whom was her colleague. She was tortured and raped, and a carpenter’s saw was run through her, cutting her in half while she was still alive.

A Hindu professor, KL Ganjoo, was dragged out of his car, beaten, and shot dead. His body was flung into the Jhelum river. His wife was abducted, raped and killed; her body was never recovered, and the police reports never mentioned her. A Hindu shopkeeper, PN Kaul, was skinned alive and left to die a slow and painful death. 

The grotesque killing of telecom engineer BK Ganjoo reveals the fact that the local Muslims were working hand-in-glove with jihadis. When jihadis knocked on their door, Gangoo and his wife hid in large drums used for storing rice. The jihadis tore the house apart but failed to find them. They had decided to leave when their Muslim neighbor, who had seen the whole thing, helped the jihadis find the couple. Ganjoo was shot dead; his wife was forced to eat rice soaked in his blood. 

Sarwanand Koul Premi, a school teacher and litterateur, always sported the tilak (a Hindu religious symbol) on his forehead. He must have sensed death approaching when jihadis took him and his son away one evening. But the killing of this father-son duo would put humanity to shame. A deep hole was burnt into Premi’s forehead where he wore the tilak. There were innumerable cigarette burn marks on their bodies; their eyes were gouged out; and their bodies were fastened to a tree.

No one was punished. 

This was the pre-Internet era, when the people of an entire nation depended on a 15-minutes news telecast – one in the regional language, one in English – to get their daily dose of information. In a country ruled by a pseudo-secular government, the news was also highly regulated by government norms. People in the rest of India, though aware of some flare-ups in the valley, stayed completely oblivious to the intensity of the atrocities Muslims meted out to the Hindus. 

Nevertheless, the Kashmir insurgency became a subject of fascination for many people; movie-makers exploited the appeal of this chaos to the fullest, albeit with a secular makeover, romanticizing the Islamic terrorists.

A handsome Muslim boy has suffered at the hands of the Indian Army. Or, he is poor and was led to the path of terrorism inadvertently… he meets a beautiful belle… he has a change of heart… he sings and dances around trees.. and… you get the typical Bollywood jazz.  

The makers of The Kashmir Files have trashed this forced illusion and flashed the torchlight of truth upon the bloodstains of the Hindus in the valley. The director, Vivek Agnihotri, minced no words in calling an Islamic jihadi exactly what he was: a terrorist, driven by fanatic religiosity that aimed at establishing a land for the Muslims in Kashmir, without the Hindus.

This has irked the left-liberal-Islamic coterie, and triggered them to initiate a well-synchronized campaign against Agnihotri’s endeavor. 

One Intezar Hussain Sayed from Uttar Pradesh filed a petition before the Bombay High Court, seeking to stop the release of the movie, because the movie would “hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community … inflame members of the Hindu community … triggering violence in all parts of India.”

Though it was Islamic jihadis who terrorized Hindus during the ethnic cleansing, speaking about it would hurt Muslim sentiments? These sentiments were not hurt when the Islamic terrorists were sawing Hindus in half in the name of their religion? The innate hypocrisy that defines this ilk was the general tendency of India for three decades. It was a welcome change to see the court quash this indecent petition. 

While most of the Over-The-Top (OTT) media platforms have maintained a considerable distance from the movie, the director alleges that a leading OTT platform had demanded that she leave out the references to “Islamist terrorists” and insert some dialogue referring to “Hindu terrorism.” Wouldn’t that turn the victims of the genocide into perpetrators? The propaganda-producing entities couldn’t care less. 

The mainstream media and film critics have unabashedly written off the film. The masters of the trade have kept numerous theater owners from showing the film, and malpractices are being reported from ticket counters. But the truth finds its way out; frustrating their relentless efforts, The Kashmir Files has recorded phenomenal success in exposing the Islamic barbarity in the valley.