The Kashmir Files Unreported Review: The Zee5 docuseries directed by Vivek Agnihotri claims to investigate the history of the Kashmir conflict. The series features narration by the director himself and also features Pallavi Joshi who serves as an interviewer and host for the testimonies included in the series.
The docuseries consists of seven episodes of thirty-five minutes each. The Hindi-language series examines different aspects of the Kashmir valley conflict in each episode. It is a follow-up to the director’s feature film, The Kashmir Files, which was released in theatres in 2022. The series has been produced by Agnihotri and Joshi’s, IamBuddha Entertainment and Media LLP.
-The Kashmir Files Unreported Review Contains No Spoilers –
The Kashmir Files Unreported Review
The sensitive nature of this series can clearly be observed right from the content warning presented at its beginning. While the platform offering the series claims that it doesn’t support or endorse any views mentioned by the participants and interviewees, it also further adds that they do not claim accuracy and/or factuality. More than a minute into it and another content warning is added to state that the stock footage used in the series is only to enhance storytelling and that it doesn’t support or promote any specific content depicted in it. While “viewer discretion is advised”, is it truly possible to consume content in an unbiased manner irrespective of its presentation?
With The Kashmir Files Unreported, director Vivek Agnihotri goes a step ahead of his movie by the same name that claimed to dramatise the conspiracies and truths about the 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Hindus. In the docuseries, the director accompanied by co-creator, Pallavi Joshi, presents interviews with experts and individuals who were affected by the troubled past of the valley. The show covers several aspects of Kashmir’s history including its accession with India and the political intricacies of the region.
The interviews featured in the series include emotional accounts from family members of Kashmiri Pandits who reveal the tense situations from the time they spent in the valley and the circumstances under which they lost their loved ones. While the chilling testimonies revealing disturbing details leave a gut punch, the interruptions of Joshi and Agnihotri who keep reappearing as hosts provide dramatic reactions to the sufferings for added effect.
The usage of stock footage of crucial political cal events works well as a storytelling device but it is worth questioning why the director also includes scenes from his own film, The Kashmir Files, as though suggesting it as a piece of authentic historic commentary despite it being a fictional presentation. The troubled past of Kashmir and its role in the dispute between India and Pakistan is a subject that feels even more sensitive today. The scare surrounding the manipulation of history fitting for political agendas in the day and age of social media is high today and could be extremely detrimental.
The series includes interviews of personalities such as Shesh Paul Vaid, former DGP J&K, also Col Tej Kumar Tikoo, author of Kashmir: Its Aborigines and their Exodus and President All India Kashmiri Samaj speak about their understanding of the Kashmir situation, particularly the political motives that made it a conflicted region. There is also commentary made regarding the conception of Article 370, its eventual abrogation and the effects of it. Rakesh K Kaul who is the author of The Last Queen of Kashmir and Dawn: The Warrior Princess of Kashmir has also been interviewed in the show.
The idea behind the docuseries seemingly was to counterclaim the comments regarding The Kashmir Files being deemed as a propaganda film by several viewers after its series. Showcasing the interviews and the research involved on the topic, Agnihotri expects to authenticate his previous work. While the idea of a docuseries is to present all sides and present things as is, it also heavily needs to rely on having an unbiased approach.
The tonality of the show doesn’t seem to find a middle ground and the hyperemotional tone that the hosts take while introducing a topic or discussing key historic moments seems unfitting. The forceful nature of creating a sentimental experience doesn’t work even when they try to infuse it with a melancholic background score. It’s only when the show sticks to first-person accounts of those who suffered during the mass exodus that it creates a stirring impact.
The testimonies of survivors such as Swapna Raina, Manju Kak, and Himanshu Ganju among others are moving and make you introspect on how human experiences and suffering must come above all and be separate from narratives and political agendas. Mourning for or sympathising with someone’s ill experience should come as a universal feeling unattached from any other beliefs.
The Kashmir Files Unreported Final Thoughts:
The series tries to re-establish once again what it did first with the 2022 film only this time, it provides us with a behind-the-scenes aspect by presenting the research that led to the birth of the film. Tracing the journey of Kashmir from the pre-independence era till now, the show presents interviews with historians and war veterans who provide their points of view on how and when things escalated for the region. The question remains though, is the purpose of the series to shed light on the horrific past of the Kashmiri Pandits or to stir up emotions that could have serious effects on conflicts today?
The Kashmir Files: Unreported is streaming on Zee5 from August 11.
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