As The Kashmir Files continues to do well at the box office, lead actor Anupam Kher took to social media to share his mother Dulari’s message of praise for the film. The story is based on the early 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. Dulari is a Kashmiri Pandit, and her younger brother was one of the many people forced to escape their homeland three decades ago as communal tensions erupted in the region.
Anupam commented on Instagram after sharing the video, “I wanted to be a little light hearted while telling Mom about the box office success of #TheKashmirFiles!! But she was in no such mood. She is focused, fearless, hurt, disillusioned and furious!” Anupam said his mother was terribly saddened, and she spoke of Kashmiri Pandits’ difficulties, notably her younger brother Moti Lal Kak.”
Dulari is seen talking to Anupam about the film in the five-minute video. She begins by praising filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri for creating a “correct film”. When Anupam, who can be heard off camera, asks her why she believes the film is so successful, she responds that “the film shows what happened.”
Dulari then narrates her family’s experiences in Kashmir three decades ago in part Hindi, part Kashmiri. She says, “My brother used to live in Rambagh. He came home one evening and was told to leave everything. He had just built his home that year. They wanted me and my other brother to go there too. There was a letter at the door saying ‘Today it’s your turn’. That poor man didn’t even take the deed to the house or the bank passbook. He died later heart broken at being away from the home he had built with such love.” She talked more about her brother later in the video. “He didn’t even take money. It wasn’t as if he had ancestral property in Mumbai or Delhi. So he stayed in a tent. I don’t wish this even upon my enemies,” she says.
Dulari was born and brought up in Srinagar. She expresses her desire to return in another segment of the video.
Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar, Chinmay Mandlekar, and Bhasha Sumbli make up for the cast of The Kashmir Files. The film was launched in theatres on March 11 and has already grossed over Rs. 141 crore in India. Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, Haryana, and Uttarakhand are among the states that have proclaimed it tax-free. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have both given their support to it.
