A PIL has been filed against Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming movie The Kashmir Files by a resident from UP named Intezar Hussain Sayed seeking to stall the release of the film. After the trailer of the movie was released, the petitioner has alleged that the trailer hurts the religious feelings of the Muslim community. However, Vivek Agnihotri has denied the allegations and said that his movie only shows the truth.
Determined to showcase the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus on-screen through The Kashmir Files, Agnihotri while speaking to OpIndia remarked, “I can prove in any court or any platform of their choice that every frame, every word in my film is truth. Nothing but the truth.” On the news of a PIL being filed against the film, he said, “They can create as many hurdles as they want but I can’t be silenced,”
BREAKING: PIL by one Intezar Hussain Sayed, an Uttar Pradesh Inhabitant to stall release of #KashmirFiles, directed by @vivekagnihotri before Bombay High Court, says “Trailer hurts religious feelings of Muslim Community”, “inflammatory scenes bound to cause communal violence” pic.twitter.com/oz0YM4MP8P
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) March 3, 2022
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the film was filed by Sayed in the Bombay High Court after the applicant said that the ‘trailer hurts religious feelings of Muslim Community’ and that the ‘inflammatory scenes are bound to cause communal violence’. Intezar Hussain Sayed asks for a complete stalling of the film’s release alleging that the film contains ‘racial and discriminatory remarks’ and aims to portray only a ‘one-sided view’ of the Kashmiri Pandit genocide from the valley.
While the trailer of the movie was uploaded by Zee studios on Youtube on February 21, 2022, Sayed contested that from the first second of the trailer a graffiti ‘Musalmano Jago Kafiro (Hindus) Bhago’ can be seen written on the backdrop wall, “which sets the tone of the film with the potency of causing a communal imbalance between Hindu & Muslim Community,” The applicant stated that there is a possibility that the release of the film may trigger violence and immeasurable destruction in all active parts of India.
Terming the film as a work of ‘propaganda’, Intezar Hussain Sayed sought to delete the trailer from Youtube and other social media platforms and requested to stay the release of the film connecting it with reasonable restrictions to Article 19(2) of the Constitution.
’10-15 legal cases no big deal’ – Vivek Agnihotri
Earlier, members of the Shia community were angered over the portrayal of the religious leader in Shia Islam, Ayatullah Khamenei in the film. Maulana Kalbe Jawad from Lucknow remarked that The Kashmir Files shows the Shia Supreme leader Khamenei in poor light. He alleged that the film connects Khamenei with terrorism. Writing to I&B Minister Anurag Thakur, Maulana Jawad said that the film conspires to harm the relations between Iran and India and hence an enquiry should be done.
When asked about the objection of Shia personal law board over the film, Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri commented, “The producers of the film will deal with notices through the legal means. All I can tell you is that in any court of the world, on any platform, forum or gathering, I can take responsibility for each and every dialogue, scene and character portrayed in the film. I can prove myself with hundreds of references, videos, visual sources, etc.”
He added, “This film has challenged the notions of those establishments who continued to rule for many years. They’ll point figures because they have been exposed. When battles with fatwas can be fought, then 10-15 legal cases is a no big deal,”
The trailer of Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming multi-starrer film ‘The Kashmir Files’ has caused a storm on the internet with 9.5 million views in 10 days on Youtube alone. While the film is set to release on March 11, 2022, in the theatres, you can watch Vivek Agnihotri’s conversation with OpIndia CEO Rahul Raushan here.
