Ironically, what our PM deemed to be the source of ‘correct information’ for the audience, the producer of the film Aditya Dhar clarified in the trailer launch of the film to not be a factual account but a work of fiction inspired by true events. Underlying the thrills and an overt display of nationalism, one can observe distorted history and vilification of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, over-simplification of the Kashmir issue and one-sided narration. With this tadka, one finds justified all the human rights violations and state oppression that took place in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, including custodial torture, preventive detention, and unjustified usage of armed forces. As one can expect from a mainstream movie made on Kashmir, the Kashmiris were not only stereotypes but also dehumanised, portrayed to be terrorists, stone-pelters and militants. Along with them, the politicians of the state were shown as corrupt and greedy.

Similar to “Uri: The Surgical Strike”, a movie also directed by Aditya Dhar and based on the Pulwama terrorist attack and the resultant surgical strike conducted by India, Article 370 comes at a crucial time. Released only a few weeks before the 2024 general elections, this movie openly bats for the current Bharatiya Janata Party government’s third term by happily deeming the abrogation to be a win for the party and building up the case for Uniform Civil Code the next issue that the BJP government brings in. Notably, the movie Uri had won a national award while many had criticised it for creating a false image in the minds of the voters and having an impact on the 2019 general elections.

Summary of the plot: 

The lengthy disclaimer at the beginning of Article 370 states that it is a work of fiction inspired by true events. With that out of the way, the film then launches into an erroneous historical montage of the partition and Jammu & Kashmir’s accession to India, narrated through Ajay Devgan’s voice. Since the beginning, accusatory statements blaming Jawaharlal Nehru, who was prime minister at the time, for being the reason for the delay of accession of Kashmir to India are made.  Their argument is based on the reasoning that Nehru wanted his close friend Sheikh Abdullah to be in power. As a result, once Maharaja Hari Singh was cornered and forced to sign documents, Article 370 was finally introduced.

In the movie, Yami Gautam portrays the role of an intelligence officer, Zooni Haksar, who is also a Kashmiri Pandit. Zooni sees Kashmir as her task to be “purified”. She is first introduced to the audience while on route on a clandestine mission to track down Hizbul Mujahideen chief Burhan Wani. Notably, the only character in the movie Article 370 who still goes by his real name is Burhan. Except for him, other character such as lawmakers from Jammu and Kashmir, Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi, use other names and make an appearance in this movie under assumed identities. However, since the characters are close enough to each other, it is obvious who the movie is alluding to.

The film is action-packed and has a very high production value, as one might expect from an Aditya Dhar movie. The raid on a Tral home in search of Burhan Wani is the first action scene that the audience gets to witness. High drama unfolds with the protagonist finding Burhan and shooting him. The death provides the filmmakers with the opportunity to takes their time laying forth their concept of high presence of insurgency and militancy in Kashmir. Even during Burhan’s funeral scene, where a crowd of thousands is shown, the characters emphasise upon the idea of a new wave of rebels cropping up. The film shows politicians and other influential figures seated together, strategising on how to incite the populace to throw stones and, ultimately, pick up guns.

To depict the protagonist to be a victim fighting this corrupt system, Zooni is seen receiving punishments for conducting the aforementioned raid without permission rather than the expected applause. The film shows Zooni Haksar receiving criticism and being blamed for the recent upsurge in insurgency, and being ordered back to New Delhi. This is a defining moment for the film as Article 370 is not a film about Kashmir, it is a film about everything that happened in the background before Union Home Minister Amit Shah tabled the bill for the abrogation of Article 370 in the parliament on August 5, 2019.

The audience gets to witness numerous factual inaccuracies mixed with fantastical elements throughout the movie. Many actual events have been re-enacted, like the 2017 army’s deployment of a villager as a human shield, found place in the movie with the filmmakers attempting to defend the said act. A number of other events like custodial beating and torture were also normalised and shown as a necessary act to be committed against those “deserving it”. Nonetheless, this movie stays clear of overtly false facts or hate speech. The creators have taken care to avoid using hostile rhetoric, stereotyping, or demonizing any particular community. Thus, the movie focusses on warping the context of actual events and creating made-up stories about how and why certain things happened while posing as fictitious political thriller movies.

The movie single-handedly holds the allegedly dishonest politicians to be responsible for anything bad, ignoring the complexity of Kashmiri life and the background to the insurgency. The character played by Yami Gautam was heard declaring, “Terrorism is a business… nothing to do with the drama of Azaadi,” during an impassioned monologue. Her character in the film makes unreasonable statements about how women, the impoverished, and oppressed castes in Kashmir face discrimination because of Article 370 and are not eligible for the same welfare programs as the rest of India. At last, she proclaims, “Kashmir is a lost cause.”

At this point in the film, the audience sees the union government building its efforts to abrogate Article 370. Priyamani portrays Rajeshwari who working with the Prime Minister office, who is seemingly frustrated with the daily files she receives regarding violence in Kashmir. The tone of the film is established by a single interaction between Rajeshwari and Zooni, which highlights how the film views the complete issue of Kashmir, how it views its people, and which side of the debate the filmmakers place themselves. When a scene shows Rajeshwari asking Zooni regarding the Burhan Wani riad and what she would have done differently today, Zooni responds by saying, “Main uski body wpiss nahi lautati (I would not return his body)”

A re-enactment of the Pulwama incident and the prime minister honouring the slain soldiers is shown in the movie. Building upon the same, the union Cabinet Ministers are then shown engaged in animated conversation, where the character of Prime Minister—who bears a striking resemblance to our current PM Narendra Modi—vocalises, “Ek desh mai, do vidhan, do nishaan, do pradhan, nahi chal sakte.” (We cannot permit two constitutions, two flags, and two heads of state in one nation.) With this, he establishes August 5, 2019 as the potential abrogation date.

The movie retains the legal details of how the abrogation was made possible, which has now been upheld by the Supreme Court, but the path to that conclusion is reimagined as a spy thriller in which the good government agents attempt to expose the sinister plot of the former Jammy and Kashmir state assemblies. Many a times, the lines between fiction and real-life events were blurred. The film features a number of moments that are essentially recreations, including Union Home Minister Shah’s speech in the Parliament. Meanwhile, on the other side, fiction takes over with Zooni battling and eliminating the current insurgent commander in order to keep the valley peaceful. The movie concludes with the government accomplishing its goal and the measure passing both houses with little debate, much like it actually did in real life.

Towards the end, a black screen text shows up on the screen stating that when the union government abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution accompanied with a complete clamp down on the Kashmir valley, not a single innocent life was lost due to the actions of the government. The film here justifies the actions of the ruling party government, and rather congratulates the union government for finding and executing the only ‘non-violent’ option. However, in reality, the government figures itself revealed that 87 civilians and 99 security personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir when their special status was stripped away.

The final shot before end credits clearly reveals the point of making this film and releasing it before the 2024 General Elections. A newspaper article with an old photo of Prime Minister Modi props up on the screen, with the headline reading, “Prime Minister fulfils his 30-year-old promise: Article 370 done and dusted. What is he planning next?”

An electioneering gimmick?

The movie portrays Kashmir as tranquil after two weeks of abrogation, while in reality, peace is still elusive in the area because of frequent encounters, curfews, and shutdowns. Notably, after the abrogation, the internet outage lasted for almost a full year. Filmmakers have an obligation to draw the line separating fact from fiction in the current politically unstable environment. Throughout the film, the biases were evident. There was a strong pro-government tone to the recounting of the events, which took place over a span of 70 years. The humanistic perspective was easily disregarded as a bureaucratic understanding of the Kashmir dispute and the revocation of its special status was put forth. It is impossible to implore the audience to ignore the political message of the movie, particularly in regards to the timing of its release.

Related:

The complex design of propaganda & narrative manipulation: India

Film as Propaganda: the months between June 2023 & May 2024

IFFI jury chair outraged over inclusion of “Kashmir Files”; calls it propaganda

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