Jaipur: The Rajput Organisation The Karni Sena has appealed to the producer and the director of the Hindi Film ‘The Kashmir Files’, to set aside the half of the profits made by the film for the welfare of the Kashmiri Pandits, the Tribune reported.
The Karni Sena made the appeal to the producer, Zee Studios, and director Vivek Agnihotri.
“A majority of the states have declared the movie tax-free to enable the common man to watch it,” Suraj Pal Amu, the Karni Sena chief said. “The producer and director should come forward and donate 50% net profit from the movie for the welfare of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits to show solidarity with the cause espoused in the film.”
If Zee Studios and Agnihotri did not do so, Amu argued, it would be considered that they made the film solely to profit from the suffering of those who were displaced.
The Kashmir Files is about the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from the erstwhile state in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to militancy. The film was released on March 11.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has been extensively promoting the film for the previous ten days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of other senior Bharatiya Janata Party figures have endorsed the film. The film has also been exempted from amusement tax in other BJP-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Gujarat.
Opposition parties have questioned the factual accuracy of the film and the communal tone of the discussion around it. They have said that the Congress was not in power at the Centre when the displacement happened and claimed that the governor of the state who facilitated the flight of the community had been approved by the BJP.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on March 18 that the film was far from the truth and said that people should find ways to “heal divides and not add to them”.
Since the release of The Kashmir Files, many social media users have posted videos where members of the audience could be seen shouting anti-Muslim slogans in movie theatres.
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