I played my community's pain, not a character: Anupam Kher on The Kashmir Files [details]

Anupam Kher's incredible performance in 'The Kashmir Files' has been garnering critical acclaim. Calling it the result of the pain of being a Kashmir Pandit himself and listening to the tragic stories of his community members, he said the role is about the truth in Kashmir.

Addressing the media in the Capital, Kher said: "I act ... play roles ... but this time I have not played any character. I didn't. 'The Kashmir Files' is not about dialogues ... 32 years ago what happened to the Kashmiri Pandits ... 90 crore people of the country were silent, the police had vanished ,,, the Army was in the barracks ... nobody knew what happened to us. There's been no trial, no one has been punished. The film is about knocking on the souls of every Indian. I am Pushkar Nath."

Kher said: "It is not a film but a wound that can never be healed." He said the movie presented a truth that had never come out. His character of Pushkar Nath is central to the movie; it is the soul of the gut-wrenching movie.

He said: "Nobody spoke about the Kashmiri Pandits. Nobody had any knowledge about the trauma they went through. It was Abhisekh Agarwal, a producer from Hyderabad, who came forward for the movie when there was no one to support."

Kher slammed those who are spreading misinformation about what happened in Kashmir.

Congress' controversial remark

Reacting to the now-deleted tweets by the Kerala unit of the Congress, which alleged that the Kashmiri Pandits left the Valley under the directions of the then Governor, of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan, Kher said; "Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi were Kashmiri Pandits and Rahul Gandhi is now heading the party. The Congress should not have done this. It was insensitive."

He added: "When people are appreciating, applauding and embracing the film, that is what matters. More and more people are talking. At the airport when 12-15 people tell you that they saw 'The Kashmir Files', and say, 'Sorry we didn't know about this', and then a security officer says, 'Kher Sahib, your movie stirred us', it means that the film is reaching the masses."

He concluded by saying: "That is what the aim is at the end. The truth is out there now."

(With inputs from IANS)