Director Vivek Agnihotri’s movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, starring veteran actor Anupam Kher, has been the talk of the town this week. Apart from gaining unprecedented success at the Box office, the movie has been praised by who’s who of Indian polity, including the Prime Minister of the country. At the same time, another section of movie-goers have accused the makers of the movie of peddling the government’s narrative around the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in 1990s, and argued that the movie does not raise important questions about the rehabilitation of Pandits.
Now old tweets of Anupam Kher, who plays the lead role in the film, are going viral. Anupam Kher’s tweets before 2013-14 are being compared with his recent tweets, in which the difference is visible at the level of ideology.
The below tweets have been posted my Mr Kher in the past, and are now going viral.
In 2010, Anupam Kher had made a tweet on the issue of Kashmir, in which he wrote: “My heart bleeds for Kashmir. Politics and terrorism has turned heaven into a hell for its people. Both… Hindus and Muslims.”
In 2011, Anupam Kher, while replying to a Twitter user named Imad Nazir, wrote: “Problem is NOT with Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims. We have lived toghethers for Years Peacefully. It’s POLITICIANS my friend. :)”
Anupam Kher’s tweet on Kashmir, Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims in 2012, reads: “DON’T FORGET. DON’T FORGIVE. Please don’t forget the Kashmiri Muslim as well pandith women who went through a similar pain.”
After the release of ‘The Kashmir Files’, this tweet of Anupam Kher is one of the most viral tweets now. You will understand the reason behind this by reading this tweet. Mr Kher wrote: I see some people making Kashmiri Pandit’s exodus outcry into religious thing. It is NOT. It is about Human Sufferings. Hindu or Muslim.”
These were the old tweets by Mr Kher. Now let us take a look at some of the posts he has made in recent times.
After the release of ‘The Kashmir Files’, Anupam Kher wrote: “Love of people, tears of Kashmiri Hindus, patience/courage of Vivek Agnihotri, hard work of entire team of The Kashmir Files and above all blessings of Baba Bholenath. Truth had to win at some point or the other. Right after 32 years.”
Anupam Kher posted a video just before the release of ‘The Kashmir Files’. In the caption for this video, Mr Kher wrote: “Today I am not just an actor. I am a witness and The Kashmir Files is my testimony. All those Kashmiri Hindus, who were either killed or started living like dead bodies. They were uprooted from the land of their forefathers. Still longing for justice. Now I am the tongue and face of all those Kashmir Hindus.”
Some time ago Anupam Kher posted a video, which you can see below. But before that read the caption of that video- “For the blind and deaf of intelligence who find the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits imaginary. Here are my thoughts on why acting in #TheKashmirFiles was difficult for me! Sometimes separating the actor and the person is tough!!”
Social media users are now sharing screenshots of these tweets on social media. People say that in these tweets you can easily notice how much the political ideology of Anupam Kher has changed over time. People believe that the person who used to talk about Kashmir earlier, now he talks only about Kashmiri Pandits. Anupam Kher, who described the issue of displacement of Kashmiris as a political step, today himself plays a lead role in a film like ‘The Kashmir Files’. This film does exactly the same thing against which Anupam stood for the rest of his life.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
