Why would one review two movies together when reading one is task enough. Well, multiple reasons but primarily because I saw both over the same weekend and the Kashmir Files(TKF) is being talked a lot and Shikara is not.
TKF begins with Hindu kid getting beaten by Muslim kids and adults and ends with the killing of Kashmiri Pandits. There is no time for what led to the exodus or genocide in 1990 or what is happening to them today. Director, also a co-writer, is clear that the movie is about what happened in Kashmir in that period and how it seen by the people present then and today.
Shikara on the other hand starts with the hope the refugees in their own country are clinging on to and ends with the hope of reconciliation. The tragedy of the situation is summed up by a scene at the end of the movie where the protagonist Shiv Kumar is back in Kashmir to tutor children. Several children enter the house, and they keep staring at him. When Shiv asks the reason, the boy innocently says, “Isne kabhi Kashmiri Pandit nahi dekha”. Shiv smiles but it is enough to tear one’s heart apart.
Director of Shikara, Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a Kashmiri, born in Srinagar and his mother could never return to the valley. In contrast, Vivek Agnihotri does not have a direct connect, of course he feels strongly and differently about the story and incidents. But is his take superior to Shikara, or he is just pure lucky that his movie arrived after Covid has mostly settled. Can someone who never lived in Kashmir can have more authentic take on Kashmir than the director who was born and brought up there and had a living member who was forced to live in exile.
When I came out of the theatre after watching TKF, I was like “Why, why has there been the story of Kashmiri Pandits not told. How can natives of one own country become refugees and then continue to be.” First question is soon answered as I watched Shikara the same evening, probably the first authentic take that was released in 2020. It is still 30 years after the event, but earlier than the TKF one can argue. TKF tries to answer the second question as it shows the helplessness of the police and the administration, and the media was either not telling the story or they were being filtered to not reach the people’s homes. Frustration is so widespread that the movie shows how representatives from each of these get into a small fight, even though that fight, and the explanation stays inconclusive.
TKF keeps hammering on the violence that pandits of Kashmir were made to bear. If you believe the film, no other group were harmed. It does not show that even some Muslims bore the consequence of what happened in that period. We know that, even today Kashmiri Muslims continue to be targeted by militants or terrorists.
Let us contrast the movies more closely. Both the movies show the mayhem that unfolded in that period. Both show how the terror had taken over the Pandits, how they initially would not believe it’s coming to them and could happen to them and their own. They trusted their neighbours, their friends, and their network among the who’s who. Pushkar Nath in TKF is relieved when he says, it’s good to be friends with senior officers of the government. In Shikara, Shanti calls the milkman crazy when he tells her that they would have to leave and go to India and Haji saab will take their house. It is deemed so innocuous that she does not even mention it to her husband Shiv Kumar.
Both show how they were shocked to see the fire in their neighbourhoods including the posh ones. Both tell us a list of targets was created. TKF is in a hurry here, but Shikara shows the scared and terrorized faces as they read their names in the list. They assure each other, even joking if their favourite news reader is killed who would read the news every night on their TVs. It tells soon enough that the news reader is no more along with several others.
Both tell us the hardships refugees face in Jammu camps. TKF shows the hunger and the killer diseases, counting several thousand deaths owing to the arrangement(or lack of) in the refuge. This figure is comparable to those of deaths in Kashmir by terrorists as per the film. Shikara on the other hand uses cinema to show the helplessness. For instance, on arriving in the camps, people run after a trolley full of tomatoes that is being offered by a right wing political party(name not like BJP!). It shows the walls created by people using their own clothes mostly sarees in the refuge hall. TKF shows how Pushkar Nath would always skip the dinner as the food is in short supply and would go out to take a solo biscuit from his tiffin and lick it to tease his hunger. They show us hundreds even thousands of letters are written to the head of states – PM in case of TKF and President of the United States in case of Shikara.
While there are similarities, the contrast is starker. TKF is in your face, based on a set of incidents, some very uncomfortable ones and it shows them as is. It is no surprise then people who suffered see this as a fact based movie, even though not everything in the movie is about facts. Shikara on the other hand is mellow, it shows the same betrayal, deceit and helplessness but does not shake you. TKF holds the audience by both their arms and shakes them vigorously. Shikara leaves you helpless like the protagonist and makes you cry, whereas TKF does not stop there, it brings your emotions out and very successfully.
Most fundamentally, the treatment of the subject is different from start to end. TKF is about three things – deceit, violence, and anger. And to do that it relies upon darkness, the chilly winter and the brilliant actors. The movie was so dark that one wonders why the director couldn’t use more light. Probably that’s part of the story teller’s message. There is nothing beautiful about Kashmir then and thereafter. Most things happened in the night or night equivalent light.
Shikara on the hand is so much more realistic even though TKF is more real being research based. I say this as the story develops, it shows layers of characters, how things change, story builds on it and then there is climax. TKF just goes shoot, shoot, and shoot except when it comes to the political commentary where it asks you questions and makes you to think and ponder.
Shikara leaves you tricked, frustrated and helpless, but does not leave you hopeless. TKF shows the treachery(neighbours included), but the helplessness does not strike you so much, it is the anger. It leaves you hurt and angry! Pushkar Nath says in a scene – “Inke to surname bhi hamare diye hue hain” reminding that Kashmiri Muslims are firstly a Kashmiri and then a Muslim.
Shikara’s protagonists are two lifelong lovers who are shown in beautiful times just a few years before the exodus. It makes us fall in love with Kashmir for the beauty it is known for. Cricket is popular among all and so are films as they get shot in the valley. When Shiv starts to build his dream house, father of his friend (a Muslim and Ranji Cricketer) brings building material for the foundation and the house gets built. It tells that people did live in peace and harmony so much so that a trained doctor returns from England to practice in Kashmir.
The movie also demonstrates the build up to the gruesome events. Some would call it apologetic or attempt at justification of genocide. But the movie gives its reasons even though not fully satisfactory to many, of why things happened i.e., easy availability of guns including AK47 from the war in Afghanistan and the neighbor nation looking to create trouble. Of course, there were local separatist people who actively participated and led the movement. But it is the root causes, the movie spends more time on.
It also gives the multitude of events that unfolded until the D-day and takes us through the layers that are peeled as people finally see the light and accept the harsh reality that they have to leave their homes. TKF on the other hand is monotonous when it comes to pogrom events and spends an equivalent time on the political statement i.e., the whitewashing of issues. It shows that the mastermind is welcomed to Delhi and his interview is telecast on National channel where he accepts charges of killing several people.
Shikara makes no specific commentary on either Muslims or individuals. It is obvious it makes room for reconciliation howsoever elusive it may seem. It depicts life in refuge to a greater detail, how even living in the camps children are focused on better life and continue to make strides there.
On the question of return to Kashmir, TKF shows us Pushkar Nath is back to Kashmir in a strange village where his grandson and daughter in law are killed in cold blood. And finally, it shows that Pushkar Nath’s ashes are spread in his house in the valley, even though no one lives there. It is still unoccupied!
Shikara on the other hand is the story of hope, it starts with hope as the hero is shown to be writing letters and that he would have a meeting with POTUS soon. Very rewarding for the wait of 30 years!
Throughout the tumultuous journey involving one setback after another, Hope doesn’t die ! It shows how his dream house in the valley is occupied by Haaji saab as predicted at the beginning and it has been fully rearranged. To know what this means, just go back to a place you built and lived and then sold it to, except if you are a Kashmiri then you have occupiers in your house anyway. It’s strange then that Pushkar Nath’s house in the dreaded, dark valley per TKF remains unoccupied.
Even though the hope of meeting the US ends up being a lie, Shiv Kumar is back in Kashmir at the end of the film teaching to the kids who have never seen a Kashmiri Pandit.
If you want to watch a set of facts and the doubt that continued to be spread until today whether it happened, go see TKF. It is not so much a movie, even though it uses cinema as a medium and for this reason I believe it is named the Kashmir ‘files’. TKF ensures you leave the theatre with the sound of bullets and the faces of Nadimarg victims when it shows every single of 24 bullets fired and the faces of each victim including one child. But if you want to join a Kashmiri family and watch the color of Kashmir and their life changing it is Shikara! It is indeed made like a movie; it is multilayered and talks of the detailed writing and depiction. I for instance could not miss the various musical instruments played at the wedding, the long, beautiful earing accompaniment wore by Shanti throughout the movie.
On looking up, one reviewer criticized the makers of Shikara for trying the balance. I wonder since when did trying a balancing act became a bad thing. Don’t we hear all the time, avoid extreme, attempt balance. Hindi language has an equivalent phrase. Probably the country has seen too much watering down of one type of events trying to be politically correct that people are fed up with white washing and before we go to balancing acts again, can we say things without too much qualification. And this is where the Kashmir files minces no words. It strikes the chord with the viewers and people who suffered. And this is where TKF gives the heavy weight punch to Shikara and knocks it out.
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