Prakash Nanda
Usually, journalists cover news; they are not newsmakers themselves. But, the Delhi-based Foreign Correspondent Club of South Asia, popularly known as the FCC, is in news these days as its President and Managing Committee members have decided to become newsmakers. The club has canceled an event featuring film producer Vivek Agnihotri, whose recent film, The Kashmir Files, is a smash hit by breaking many records. It was supposed to be held on May 5 and was well publicised.
In fact, it was a paid event. The FCC was just providing the space for the occasion, which was supposed to be Agnihotri’s interactions with the press. The FCC by no means was promoting the movie; it was just providing a venue to its producer for a few hours, and that too for a price. It is reported that the president of the club, who had agreed to the event, came under serious pressure from some members representing the international media, including some foreigners and Indians. Apparently, they threatened to give up their memberships of the club if Agnihotri was allowed to use the premise, a Central Government-owned property taken on rent.
The unspeakable brutality and trauma the Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus) had to endure during the 1990s in the Kashmir valley is what Vivek Agnihotri has tried to bring to the fore through his film. He has shown how the sufferings of the Pandits were totally underplayed in the media and how insensitive the political and intellectual elites of the country were to allow this pathetic state of affairs to go on.
Obviously, such a narrative has been challenged by professional film reviewers and India’s so-called liberal/ secular elites, who dominate leading educational institutions and national media. For them, The Kashmir Files is doctored, staged, and faked.
Does a movie reflect the truth? As has happened with great historical Hollywood movies, this question will evoke different answers from
