Ashoke Pandit breaks down on recalling personal anecdote; ‘Knocked many directors’ doors’

Vivek Agnihotri’s latest directorial venture, The Kashmir Files, which has been doing impeccable business in the ticket windows alongside garnering critical acclaim, has been topping headlines after sparking debate over its portrayal of the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits in 1990. During a conversation with Republic’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami about the film and the ongoing controversy over Kashmir insurgency, ace filmmaker Ashoke Pandit opened up about his personal experience as a Kashmiri Pandit activist and as a filmmaker and got emotional while sharing an anecdote from his life.

Ashoke Pandit on his experience as Kashmiri pandit activist

While speaking to Republic TV, veteran filmmaker Ashoke Pandit opened up about his life when he arrived in Mumbai from Jammu and Kashmir. He mentioned that he knocked at several directors’ doors, requesting them to make a film depicting the events that transpired in Kashmir but met with the ‘biggest shock’ on hearing their response. He named a few directors and mentioned he considered them ‘true Indians,’ however, he ended up feeling ‘backstabbed’. He recalled how no one in the industry spoke about him and are silent even today in the wake of the massive conversation that has been initiated regarding the Kashmiri genocide of 1990 post the release of the Anupam Kher-starrer. He said- 

“I want to share my personal experience as a filmmaker and a Kashmiri pandit activist. When refugee camps began being set up in Jammu, I was there, I started filming because I wanted this to be documented. In Mumbai, I have assisted several filmmakers like Sudhir Mishra, Saeed Mirza, in making films based on issues like these. When I come to Mumbai from Jammu and Kashmir, I knocked on their doors and told them all that so much had happened to our community, and said, ‘Why don’t you make a film on this?’ This is a subject which is happening now. The response was as worse as possible, as it was to our tragedy. I have knocked at the doors of every filmmaker, who I have worked with, who have given lectures on secularism, democracy, humanity, culture of India. This was the biggest shock to me, that my own people, whom I considered as true Indians, backstabbed me, didn’t talk about me and till today, they are silent. Then they had the audacity to make films like Shikara and Mission Kashmir.”

Image: Republic Media Network