Abrar Zahoor Dhar, who has been part of films like Uri: The Surgical Strike and Neerja, talked to us about the film The Kashmir Files. Talking about his reaction to the film, Abrar told The Quint, “I was taken aback. The film is a very tragic movie and if you give me a chance I won’t celebrate it like people are because it’s a wound we’ve grown up with.”
Abrar further said, “My dad is a businessman and 80% of his customers were pandits. Dad still feels saddened (because of what happened). When we go to Jammu, we stay at their place, they’re our humsaya (neighbour). That’s the one thing I didn’t like about the movie, they’ve shown everything in a dark space– there was no love shown. Humsaya kabhi khush nahi the ki Kashmiri Pandit nikal gaye.”
Abrar also believes that a film’s soul should be based on love or hate. He said, “In this movie, I didn’t see love…there wasn’t a single positive character. We make films to unite people so we can face each other tomorrow– that should be the motive of a film.”
Abrar also opened up about growing up in Kashmir, how people in Kashmir are ‘people of love’, and what he remembers about the Kashmiri Pandit exodus of the 1990s.
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