Veteran actress and Padma Shri awardee Asha Parekh recently reacted to the controversies surrounding Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri's film The Kashmir Files. During one of her recent interviews, she also slammed the producers of the film for not donating a part of their earnings and profits for the welfare of Hindus living in Jammu and Kashmir. For those unversed, the film was reportedly made on a production budget of nearly ₹25 crore and it earned over ₹340.92 crore worldwide. The Kashmir Files was also the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2022.
During an interview with News18, Asha Parekh said she has not seen the film and added that if people are like them, then they should watch those movies.
Reacting to the box office success and the controversies surrounding the film, the veteran actress stated, "People watched The Kashmir Files. I will say something controversial here… the producers of the film made Rs 400 crore. From that, how much money did they give for the welfare of the Hindus living in Jammu and Kashmir? Those who don’t have water, electricity. How much money did the producer give to them?"
The 81-year-old actress added, "After paying everybody else's share, the producers will have their share of profit. If they earned Rs 200 crore out of the film’s Rs 400 crore earnings, they could have donated Rs 50 crore to help the people."
Check out her video here:
The Kashmir Files, which hit the big screens in 2022, was a commercial hit but kicked up a political storm with many calling it a 'propaganda film'.
The Kashmir Files, starring Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi in major roles, revolved around the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s. It was directed and written by Vivek Agnihotri.
The film was produced by Tej Narayan Agarwal, Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Agnihotri.
It may be noted that the film won the National Film Award in the 'Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration' category. Vivek Agnihotri's wife, actress Pallavi Joshi, also won the prestigious award for her performance as a supporting actor in The Kashmir Files.
A few months back, Vivek Agnihotri also released The Kashmir Files Unreported, a show which consists of the research, archival footage and interviews that he did for the film The Kashmir Files. It is a seven-part ZEE5 series which features conversations with historians, experts, real-life victims and their families.
