'The Kashmir Files Part 2' to release in mid-2023, reveals Vivek Agnihotri
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files that depicted the atrocities faced by Kashmiri Pandits in J&K and their exodus from the valley, was a huge box-office hit. This ₹15 crore film, which went on to earn ₹340 crores in the theatres, was also praised by the ruling party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. The film, however, was controversial but it caught the imagination of the general public in the country, who seemed to be clueless about the challenges facing Kashmiri Hindus in the valley.
Now, the filmmaker Agnihotri has dropped a hint on Twitter that Kashmir Files Part 2 is in the making and will be released in the middle of 2023. In the backdrop of the shocking killing of Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishna Bhatt on Saturday (October 15), for which the terror outfit Kashmir Freedom Fighters took responsibility, a social media user recently shared a video of a woman who works in the valley, crying and lambasting the government for not taking care of their safety.
@vivekagnihotri इसपर एक #KashmirFiles बना सकेंगे क्या? https://t.co/QzoDQ7CCUX
— Shreyansh Tripathi (@shreyanshhvns) October 17, 2022
जी हाँ काम चालू है। २०२३ के मध्य तक इंतज़ार करें।
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) October 17, 2022
Also read: ‘Victim of hate campaign’: The Kashmir Files director accuses press clubs of banning him
Besides sharing the video, the user wrote that Kashmiri Pandits are being killed continuously in the valley, but the government which claims to be the guardians of the Hindus, has fallen asleep. “They are not bothered by the continuous killings and atrocities and that the situation is very bad. The Kashmiri Pandits are going through the crisis of the 90s once again,” he had lamented.
This tweet was retweeted by one Shreyansh Tripathi, who tagged Vivek Agnihotri asking if we can make a The Kashmir Files on this situation?
To his surprise, the director replied to his tweet saying that: “Yes, the work is on. Wait till the middle of 2023.” His tweet made it clear that The Kashmir Files 2 is currently being made.
Revolving around the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, The Kashmir Files had featured actors like Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Pallavi Joshi, Puneet Issar, and Mithun Chakraborty. The Kashmir Files, as The Federal reported, had straddled fact and fiction and uses both conveniently to suit its overarching polarising narrative. It purportedly shines light on the fate of the Kashmiri Pandit community and their “suffering” at the hands of “terrorists” in 1989-1990 in the valley, all the while alleging that the government in power at that time did nothing to intervene, with the media too ignoring the developments.
Also read: After The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri to make The Delhi Files
The film became a super hit with all the attention it received was also made tax-free in several states including Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. In an earlier tweet in April this year, the director had thanked all the people who owned #TheKashmirFiles. “For last four years, we worked very hard with utmost honesty & sincerity. I may have spammed your TL but its important to make people aware of the GENOCIDE & injustice done to Kashmiri Hindus. It’s time for me to work on a new film (sic),” Agnihotri tweeted.
In a follow-up post, he wrote, “#TheDelhiFiles”, hinting at the new film’s title, but kept his followers guessing about the plot of the movie.
Now, he has revealed that The Kashmir Files 2 is on the anvil. This news has evoked a lot of interest once again on the issue since a week back, a Kashmiri Pandit farmer named Puran Krishan Bhat was killed by terrorists in broad daylight in the Chowdhary Gund area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district. This has triggered a wave of protests from the community who are protesting on the streets and demanding action from the administration.