'The Kashmir Files' writer: We should remember our gory past to avoid a repeat

Mumbai, March 23

Saurabh M. Pandey, the screenplay writer of 'The Kashmir Files' that has created awareness on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, says while the film brings hope to get justice for the community, remembering such a gory part of our history is important to prevent such a tragedy in future.

The film is a Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri directorial that is grabbing headlines in mainstream media and garnering a huge response from the audience on the brutality that took place in 1990, on the Kashmiri Pandit community who were forced to flee from their homeland.

In conversation with IANS, Saurabh, the screenplay writer of the film shares his thought on why it is important to remember the history.

Saurabh said: "When it comes to our film, the history that we are talking about, has not been documented and talked about enough so that the mass audience becomes aware of it. We all know the partition story that happened in 1947. There are several historical episodes of communal violence that we are aware of, but certainly not this one.

"How will the new generation get to know our history, unless we bring the conversation in popular culture, in mainstream media? Cinema is one such tool to bring back that conversation."

Being the writer of the film, who also penned the story of the earlier 'The Tashkent Files' and closely working with Agnihotri, Saurabh explained why moving on from the past is only possible if we remember the past.

"You see, when I started working on the mysterious death of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shashtri ji, being a youngster, even I did not know so many things about the reality. It was the same with the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits. If we do not document, converse on our recent history, if we do not remember the gory side of our own story, what if tomorrow another ethnic cleansing happens? What if another mysterious death happens and no one questions that?"

"To stop the repeating of history, to move on to a better future, we have to remember the history. Our film 'The Kashmir Files' intended to do the same," Saurabh signed off.

'The Kashmir Files' starring - Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Mithun Chakraborty, Chinmay Mandlekar, Darshan Kumar, Prakash Belawadi, Puneet Issar, and Bhasha Sumbli - released in theatres.