Amid the rising box office collection of ‘The Kashmir Files’, the makers of the movie are facing a new controversy regarding a few scenes depicting late IAF Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna’s death in the film. On Friday, the screening of the film at the Wave Cinemas in Jammu was cancelled and the people who had bought the tickets were being thrashed and abused by the authorities at the multiplex.
“We are here in Wave Cinemas, Jammu, Just now the authorities here stopped the screening of THE KASHMIR FILES. People are being thrashed and assaulted! Big propaganda is running to Muzzle the voice of truth”, tweeted one of the users who claim to have witnessed the chaos on March 11.
We are here in @wavecinemas Jammu, Just now the authorities here stopped the screening of THE KASHMIR FILES People are being thrashed and assaulted!
— Amit Sharma 🇮🇳 (@amitsharmaJK_) March 11, 2022
A big propaganda is running to Muzzle the voice of truth @vivekagnihotri @AnupamPKher
.@KhajuriaManu @DrVikasPadha
Do raise pic.twitter.com/9aW1aRL2RF
In the video shared by the user, a few people were seen arguing with the authorities of the multiplex asking the reason as to why the screening had been cancelled. One of the boys in the video could also be heard saying that he was hit by the authorities.
Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri on Saturday took cognizance of the incident and demanded an explanation from the Wave Cinemas for allegedly initiating the chaos. “Dear Wave Cinemas, please explain on what basis have you done this?”, he tweeted on March 12.
Dear @Wave_Cinemas pl explain on what basis have you done this? pic.twitter.com/sZb1kCvEZy
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 12, 2022
Meanwhile, another user also claimed that he was present at the Wave Cinema when the incident took place. He said that the authorities had stopped screening due to the Court orders. He added that the authorities had assaulted a 16-year-old boy and manhandled the two girls seen in the video. “It was absolute chaos and the authorities were trying to protect the one who assaulted”, he added in his response to Agnihotri’s tweet.
@vivekagnihotri I was present there yesterday, they stopped screening due to court orders. But what was shocking is they assaulted a 16 yo boy and manhandled the two girls seen in this video. It was absolute chaos and the authorities were trying to protect the one who assaulted.
— Akash (@akiiiakd) March 12, 2022
Speaking exclusively to OpIndia, Akash said that people had booked the tickets to the show and were not notified about the cancellation of the screening. “We had booked 12 tickets for the show. We entered the mall and saw a huge commotion going on the second floor. There were around 50 people who were arguing with the staff and a few policemen there. The authorities had not informed us about the cancellation of the show earlier. They said they had court orders and so were not screening the movie. There was a lot of confusion”, he added.
Further, he stated that people were actually unhappy about not being notified about the cancellation of screening. “A lot of them had come from Kathua especially to watch the movie. There was even an incident of a few staff members (3 of them) who had put their hands on a 16-year-old boy. Also, they had pushed two of the women present there. There was a huge argument between the policemen and the people who had come to watch the movie”, he confirmed to OpIndia.
It is important to note that a court in Jammu and Kashmir had restrained the promoters of the movie from showing scenes depicting late IAF Squadron Leader Ravi Khanna in the movie the Kashmir Files. This is after Nirmal Khanna, wife of the IAF officer, had approached the court seeking removal or amendment of scenes depicting her husband. She had alleged that the scenes shown in the movie were contrary to facts.
Additional District Judge Jammu, Deepak Sethi had then observed that the order is subject to objections, alterations or modification if any by the other side. According to the reports, the court further had stated that if no relief is granted to the applicant without serving prior notice of the application on the defendants, the suit of the applicant would become infructuous and hence would be defeated by delay.
Earlier today, Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri shared the success of the film and said that the movie had made Rs 4.25 crores worldwide on the very first day of its release. “A new beginning. A new revolution. Started with a very small film with the biggest tragedy of the oldest civilization. Gratitude to every Indian”, he tweeted.
A new beginning. A new revolution. Started by a very small film with the biggest tragedy of the oldest civilisation. Gratitude to every Indian. #TheKashmirFiles#RightToJustice pic.twitter.com/gbyQ7UDjMZ
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 12, 2022
The film that was released on March 11 is at present running on more than 1000 screens and is expected to pocket Rs 14-15 crores of the net by the weekend. As reported earlier, the film was released initially on 700 screens but the rising occupancy and the terrific response of the audiences to the trailer, to know the heart-wrenching story of the Kashmiri Pandits has got theatres to play the film on 1000 plus screens at present. The number can rise through the weekend.
The film is inspired by the true stories of Kashmiri Pandits and stars senior actors like Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi. The other acclaimed names like Darshan Kumar, Bhasha Sumbali, Chinmay Mandlekar, Puneet Issar, Mrinal Kulkarni, Atul Srivastava, and Prithviraj Sarnaik have also played important roles in the movie.
The film takes viewers back to 1989, when due to rising Islamic Jihad, conflict erupted in Kashmir, forcing the great majority of Hindus to flee the valley. According to estimates, roughly 100,000 of the valley’s total 140,000 Kashmiri Pandit inhabitants migrated between February and March 1990. More of them fled in the years that followed until just about 3,000 families remained in the valley by 2011. The movie based on video interviews with first-generation Kashmiri Pandit victims of the Kashmir Genocide was originally slated to be released in theatres on January 26, 2022, but was postponed because of the increasing number of COVID-19 instances. It has now been released and is open to watch in theatres.
