The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri and based on the narrative of the Kashmiri Pandits’ exodus, has had a tremendous rise at the box office, collecting Rs 27.15 crore in only three days since its premiere. Several states have made the film, which stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi, tax-free.
In the Lok Sabha, Ladakh BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal urged that the video be exempted from the tax because it exposes a terrible truth. Sunil Kumar Pintu, a member of the Janata Dal (United), has also urged that the film be declared tax-free, claiming that it depicts the struggle of Kashmiri Pandits.
Danish Ali, a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), argued that films that incite hatred, whether “Kashmir Files” or “Gujarat Files,” should be banned.
States like Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Goa, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh have made the film entertainment tax free for the public
After many states declared ‘The Kashmir Files’ tax-free, the Maharashtra Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged that the state government waive duty on the film, which is about the 1990 genocide of Kashmiri Pandits.
“If Balasaheb Thackeray had been living, the movie would have been proclaimed tax-free,” BJP MLA Ram Kadam stated, “but his son Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has yet to announce this.”
Following a series of tweets by the Congress’ Kerala branch on the emigration crisis and the film, BJP leaders claimed the opposition party lacked empathy and sympathized with only one community for minority appeasement.
In their tweets, the unit blamed the BJP-backed V P Singh administration of the 1990s, as well as then-governor Jagmohan, for the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley.
The Kashmir Files has elicited strong reactions from viewers, particularly Kashmiri Hindus who have suffered greatly since being forced to leave the Valley. The film was initially launched on around 630 screens, but due to good word-of-mouth, it was able to expand its distribution across the country.