Art & Entertainment

Karan Johar: Kashmir Files Is No Longer A Film, It's A Movement

'The Kashmir Files' is directed by Vivek Agnihotri and was released on March 11 to critical acclaim. The film has also been a box office hit, grossing over 250 crore.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Director Karan Johar
info_icon

The recent release 'The Kashmir Files' has been dubbed a "movement" by filmmaker Karan Johar. The filmmaker also stated that the film should serve as a lesson for prospective filmmakers on how to deal with content.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, in a conversation about cinema and writing, Johar said, "The Kashmir Files is not made on the budget like a lot of other movies. But it is probably going to be cost-to-profit the biggest hit of Indian cinema. I read on Box Office India and they said that such a movement hasn't happened since Jai Santoshi Maa, since 1975."

The filmmaker went on to discuss the film's appeal to the general public, saying that budding filmmakers should learn from it. "You have got to acknowledge there is something that is connecting with this nation and academically you have to watch it. You have to watch it to absorb, to learn from it that look, there is this movement that has happened. It's no longer a film, it's a movement," he said.

'The Kashmir' Files is a documentary concerning the evacuation and murders of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley in the early 1990s. Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, and Darshan Kumaar appear in the film, which is accompanied by an ensemble cast. The film, which was made on a budget of roughly 15 crore, outperformed all trade estimates at the box office. Its box office performance in India has been better than that of other bigger films, including 83, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and Sooryavanshi.

Several Bollywood celebrities, including Kangana Ranaut and Abhishek Bachchan, have praised the film. It has also received the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who both described it as a "important film."