Bollywood’s anti-Kashmir movie, ‘Kashmir Files’ has been receiving flak on Twitter for using Pakistani poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s famous revolutionary poem, ‘Hum Dekhenge’. The film is anti-Kashmir and anti-Pakistan and depicts the mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the Kashmir Insurgency.
The film stars Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, and Mithon Chakraborty in lead roles. It is important to note that, the poem has become the identical resistance song in the face of divisive and controversial bills of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRA) sung by students to reject the bills proposed by BJP.
The song grabbed the attention of the users when Zee Music released a teaser of the song on its official Twitter account last week. The video angered Pakistani users who accused Bollywood of ‘stealing’ and plagiarizing the song. Amid the allegations of stealing a Pakistani song, filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri claimed that they had sought permission of using the song from Faiz House in Lahore.
In the movie, the song is being shown sung by students calling for the freedom of Kashmir. Hence, the entire scene is being depicted in a negative light.
We have officially taken rights of Faiz Sahab’s poetry from the Faiz House in Lahore. Please don’t spread fake news. https://t.co/TCcS2nBNhY
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 19, 2022
Yanni kay there has to be some shame in blatantly copying a 🇵🇰 song, no?!?? https://t.co/8rtunozOrc
— Andleeb Rana (@andleebXPOZE) March 20, 2022
Read more: India slams Pakistan for extending invitation to Kashmiri leader for OIC
These people are pathetic!! Our people are also wrong for selling our songs to them tbh like said before they have zero self respect whatsoever. @ZeeMusicCompany why the double standards??If u ban our artists then ban our songs too, hypocrites!!😏 #HumDekhenge #TheKashmirFiles https://t.co/OvfTDSQYNQ
— Mehvish Khan (@MevKhan1) March 19, 2022
Another one copied from us, discrediting us! Shame india!
Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz wrote it in 1979, published in '81 & Pakistani singer Iqbal Bano sang it to a full house at Lahore’s Alhamra Arts Council in 1986 at the Faiz Foundation annual event!
Anthem b lay lo hamara https://t.co/01ThgZH72s
— Sadia A 🇵🇰 (@Dr_SadiaAz) March 19, 2022
“We have officially taken rights of Faiz Sahab’s poetry from the Faiz House in Lahore. Please don’t spread fake news,” said the Agnihotri in a tweet.
BJP distorting history
Meanwhile, the film has been a blockbuster at the box office in India. ‘The Kashmir Files’ was made tax-free in all BJP-ruled states. Despite its box-office success, the film came under harsh criticism from Indian film critics for propagating ‘historical revisionism’ and flaring anti-Muslim sentiments in India.
While, Faiz Ahmed Faiz was a left-wing poet, BJP- a right-wing party, is distorting history by using his poem, said one Twitter user. “Even Faiz isn’t spared in the BJP’s bid to distort history and promote this revisionist propaganda.”
PPP Azad Jammu Kashmir’s President, Chaudhry Yaseen has called out the film the biggest lie. He said the Indian government is attempting to deceive the world on the freedom of Kashmir.
“Kashmiri Pundits were forced to migrate by the then governor of India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir Jagmohan Malhotra intending to do ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims in the 1990s,” said Yaseen.
“To defame and give the communal and sectarian color to the ongoing indigenous freedom struggle movement of IIOJK Indian establishment produced Kashmir Files movie which was already rejected by Congress Party in India and termed it another political card of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the coming elections,” he said.
Yaseen further said that “we want to know that if few hundred Kashmiri Pundits who were killed by the Indian army to defame Kashmir movement in the early 1990s and now the same army is using them again through The Kashmir Files movie to divert the world attention from the current situation of IIOJK where people are not ready to live with India.
Several Indian journalists and film critics have denounced the film for lacking clarity yet reinforcing the prevalent Hindu right-wing rhetoric against Muslims in India. Later a video of a man uttering anti-Muslim statements in the cinema following the screening of the film was shared online.
This is call for extermination.
Theatres used to be a safe space for everyone: for couples, for minorities, for friends. Muslims have been robbed of one more comfortable public space today. Muslims going to theatres now stand the risk of mob violence. pic.twitter.com/Uwe8XHBRZa
— Alishan Jafri (@alishan_jafri) March 16, 2022
Using Faiz's poetry to justify BJP's fascism is the biggest joke of the year https://t.co/C2fATI2HK6
— Syed Zain Raza (@SydZainRaza) March 19, 2022
While the film has been receiving praise from certain quarters in India, it is condemned for being for attacking the fundamental rights of Muslims in the country.