Mass media is a powerful tool that mobilizes public opinion. Unfortunately, this tool is abused in various forms either to inform or disinform. Our mainstream media follows a technique of “omission” while reporting. And, even if they are forced to acknowledge some omissions, they choose to discredit it as a hypothesis or propaganda later.
The recent conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine also pinpoints the same propaganda news. Not to demean anyone’s contribution but this conflict has come down to a level of photo ops versus military ops. The Soviet Union and US had been controlling India’s internal affairs for quite some time now. But, after the decline of the soviet era, the US has taken up this job to an extremely disturbing level. The tables have turned. The far-right ideology now comes from the east (the Russian Federation) and the far-left idealogy (for the namesake only) has taken some comfort in the foreign policy of the US. Indian media is greatly and disturbingly influenced by the foreign policy of the US since the decline of the Soviet Union.
The movie The Kashmir Files acknowledges this fact but in a wierd way. The director doesn’t seem to understand the complexity of the control that our Indian media has. I agree with him to some extent that our Indian media is under the influence and keeps on feeding us the fake news related to the most sensitive topics of discussion. But, I am a bit hesistant and reluctant to go along with the mindset of Mr. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri. His last venture The Tashkent Files was primarly based on the The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB and the World which only depicts one side of the fact. The other side comes from the CIA in the form of a book named Conversations with the Crow written by Gregory Douglas. There are two different angles which the director failed to understand and portray. It’s not that always the far-left ideology is wrong, it’s in fact the foreign policies of the United States and Russian Federation that pushes and changes the narrative.
I happened to like the movie Haider in the past only due to the acting and direction. The story was inaccurate or omissions were used abundantly and throughout the length of the film. With the same logic, I like The Kashmir Files too. At least, with this new movie, Mr. Agnihotri tries to keep facts simple and only depicts them in the crudest way possible. This movie deserves a praise for that kind of storeytelling. The director, Vivek Ranjan Aghnihotri, chooses the dilemma and misguidance of the modern youth as a way of projecting reality. And that’s the best angle to portray the disinformation what we have been fed upon over the decades.
The dilemma of Indian youth comes from the fact that we are too much dependent on narratives run by news and social media. It’s very easy to lose the sense of direction. The actor, Darshan Kumar, played it to perfection. The scenes shown in the movie are too violent and depicts some gruesome incidents from the past. The disturbing part is that these scenes are a true replica of what happened. That’s another credit to the cinematography, acting, and direction.
It is, indeed, ironic to see that the genocide that happened in the Kashmir valley several years ago just made it to the big screen. It is more ironic that the hard core leftists in India (who are literally just capitalists) are finding it difficult to discredit the film openly after seeing the overwhelming response. I mean these people often choose sides based on the wider acceptance level of a narrative. The Kashmir Files is something new to them. So, they will surely take some time and then figure out a way to reject it in the public domain.