Kaberi Dutta Chatterjee watched Kashmir Files despite its graphic violence, but argues the film's one-sided portrayal fuels communal hatred and Islamophobia. Drawing on her family's trauma from the 1946 Calcutta Killings, she situates the movie within India's broader cycle of violence, where Hindus have been both victims and perpetrators. She advises skipping the film until genuine reconciliation and justice are achieved.
Chapters
How are you doing? So I have not been able to make a podcast or a vlog in a while, and I, I was busy with other things, you know, my book launch and everything. But this particular movie has stumped me quite a bit, and I thought of making a video for you, for a vlog and a podcast simultaneously. So this is happening together, okay? I just hope all my— yes, everything is on. And yeah, so my uptake on this film is why you shouldn't watch this film at all. So Kashmir Files stumped me yesterday. I started watching the film thinking it to be some kind of another torture porn, another take on a genocide, on a gruesome genocide. And I was sitting there with my remote in my hands waiting to change, change the channel or change the movie, stop the movie whenever I feel uncomfortable because I'm not too comfortable with violence. But I couldn't. Instead, I stopped multitasking, which I usually do when watching a movie with my phone or other things, and sat up to watch it with interest. Yes, violence was There was gruesome violence. Sometimes I had to close my eyes and I had to move away, look other places to be— I will not be able to bear it. But I'm thinking, I'm only watching it as in a movie. There were kids and babies who were watching their mother being sliced up while she was still alive. In a carpenter's saw. So I decided to just sit through it, just to bear the pain as a homage to the people who suffered this pain. This is unpardonable cruelty. I cannot even believe that any human being can do this to another human. But we are living in this era. This is called Kali Yuga. And we are living in this era where humans are being the cruelest to their— to other humans. We saw the be-all and end-all of this in Holocaust, right? We saw how humans were treated with other— by other humans. And— Really, come to think of it, that was the— that was— that, that was the ultimate. But this was no less. We can rightly say that no animal, no demon, no devil, no ghost— no ghost is more brutal than a human. I'm ashamed to be a part of the human race who slices up another human and Half with the carpenter's saw while she's still alive. You shouldn't watch this film. If you're like me, you shouldn't watch this film because the only thing that will happen to you is that your blood will boil at the mercilessness of these humans at best. Worst, your anger will be directed to a particular community who were and are still being massacred in droves. In the hands of their own community as well as others. They have been stigmatized, been ostracized, being ousted by certain nations ever since eternity, or let's say ever since 9/11, most to be precise. And moreover, only half truth has been shown in this movie. As we by and by, we come to know that Muslims were killed too. They may not have been subjected to so, so much torture We really don't know. We can only half believe the story. So other than the Article 370 being slapped on Kashmir, do you think the government will do anything now? Anything new? Will they promise to reinstate the Kashmiri Pandits in their own motherland? Is it— it is too late. 30 years too late. We've had so much of corruption in the government that will take decades, if not centuries for them to— for anybody to amend hidden genocides like this. And more and more torture and brutality is happening every day, even now as we speak. Not just in India, everywhere in the world. So who will take charge of it? Who will take the onus? Who, who is going to be there, the Superman or the vigilante who's going to bring everything into the fore? and get everybody justice? Who's going to do that? How do you cope with it? How do you teach humans to be humans? We all know and have been taught over and over again that terrorism has no religion. Killing a beef eater, hacking a Muslim to death because he was seen walking with a cow or something like that is also cruel, brutal, as much brutal as Slicing alive a Kashmiri Pandit woman in half. But now we know about the fact that even Hindus, who were always thought to be the perpetrators, can also be silent victims. This has come to light now. We have dug out and found out this part of the ruthless history, and Muslim imams all over Twitter has been admitting to this truth and applauding this effort. This definitely needs to be addressed. I am the daughter of my father who was the victim and witnessed the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946. He told me horror stories of how he saw a man's stomach getting sliced open in front of him and the organs spilling out when he was just a boy. And then he was in the bathroom, and when he was in the bathroom, he had to run with just his underpants when the Muslims came and burned down our house. He told me stories of how Hindu women were raped and killed, and their naked bodies were sliced and hung on poles with the organs dripping out. Let's face it. Let's face it. Let's face it. Let's face it. Nobody is a perpetrator. It's all action and reaction of the history, one after the other. One action leads to another reaction. Another action that reaction leads to another action. So an eye for an eye, when will this ever stop? Till the entire world goes blind? So we all know all this. I wouldn't advise you to relive that horror if you faced it. It will be better to watch the film when you know the government is doing something in retribution for the sins of the past governments. When you have the present Congress leader stand up and say sorry on behalf of his ancestors. When you know the Kashmir is is a safe place for Hindus and Muslims to live in harmony, when you can visit this heaven on earth and truly call it the heaven on earth once more, watch this movie then. Then it can become a balm to your soul. Watching it now will only add salt to the raw wound and that never ever healed. What may happen soon is probably already happening. with this movie being released is another volley of brutality thrown at a particular community who personally had nothing to do with the genocide. Maybe they are sorry, but okay, so were Hindus. Hindus did a lot of genocide of the Muslims. So they did a genocide of the Sikhs in the Delhi riots, 1984 riots. Who's sorry for that? And the present government will hide it under the carpet, but the victims will go through what Hindu pundits went through 30 years back. Their progenies will again hit back after 30 years. Action and reaction, it will never stop. In the process, we'll be ashamed over and over again to be a part of the race called human beings. Though this is true that this film will aggravate Islamophobia, but in the effort of being unbiased, हिंदुस में हैव बीन सपोर्टिंग हिंदुफोबिया सबकॉन्शियसली। हिंदू लाइफ्स मैटर तू। राइटली हैज इंडियन परमानेंट रेसिडेंट रिप्रेजेंटेटिव तू द यूएन, दिस इज़ अम्बेसडर टीएस तिरुमूर्ति। ही सेड इन अ रीसेंट, आईल जस्ट चेक एंड लेट यू नो वेद इट इज़ रीसेंट और इट्स Long time back. Oh, sorry. So it is a recent thing. He said that India hopes that the resolution, the UN resolution which adopted, does not set a precedent which will lead to multiple resolutions and phobias based on selective religions and divide the United Nations into religious camps. Celebration of a religion is one thing, but to commemorate the combined hatred against one particular religion is another, he said. Religions, you know I am so anti-religions, anti-religious. So I would just like to tell you one thing, those who are religious-minded, those who are thinking of God, and those who are thinking of themselves to be either Hindus or Muslims or Christians. You know, the government of each country, every country, should take you for a free joyride to the space and leave you there. They should kick you out of your own only home called Earth and go to the space and find your God there. Every government of every country should make it mandatory for every citizen, be they terrorists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, jihadis, to spend this reasonable time and space to be kicked out of their only home and to watch their home from above and understand the insignificance of their existence. They need to comprehend the importance of our home and our only home. And we are all one. We are all insignificant creatures on this huge, huge, huge, massive, unending space. And try to comprehend what are we even fighting about? I would suggest to read my book called WTF, I Found God, but I don't want to promote my book here. But yeah, this is what I This is where I found God. I am not a religious person, but I found God. I found God in that massive, in that humongous dark space, the dark energy. So this film should be the first of many such brutalities brushed under the carpet every day throughout history. This should be the first one. More films should follow. It may be happening even today, which we will only dig in another lifetime when this government is replaced. So please do not underestimate the power of this film and think twice before seeing it. That's all for today. Have a good, good day and let me know what you feel about the movie. What are your views? Bye-bye.
