The Kashmir Files Unreported could've been so much more than Agnihotri's attempt to justify the fictional film!

The seven-episode docu-series, The Kashmir Files Unreported sounds more of a director's response to the people in the country who questioned him, with facts that form his basis of support!

We all remember the controversy that happened with the film that came out almost a year ago called The Kashmir Files, from it being called propaganda to political parties and the Janta being literally divided on it! Whether the film was good or bad in its take is a separate debate altogether but if you've watched the film then The Kashmir Files Unreported seems like a factual explanation of the fiction film.

The biggest thing that was pointed out with The Kashmir Files was how the filmmaker was unable to keep his bias apart from the film. And if anything, this documentary series will prove exactly that! Over the seven episodes, they cover everything from the history of Kashmir, its problems, how it all started an the genocide that Kashmiri pandits went through. But with fiction film scenes butting in between and Vivek Agnihotri, his wife and actor Pallavi Shah coming in each time by breaking the fourth wall to explain things to us just didn't sit right.

Every time they mentioned 'in my research I found.., I thought this.., I questioned this.." you cannot help but feel like this is becoming more about their justification of the prequel rather than a true story of the Kashmiri pandits. Apart from this, the individual testimonials of the horror they faced, the political scenario that was made, the terrorising factor, the trauma does poke at your heart. Because hearing about these stories of rape, no sanitation in camps, dead bodies, killings and their identity crisis brought on by exile does break you. And it will unfair to say that the docu-series is not knowledgeable or informative, it is but only up to a certain point.

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I'm not sure how factually correct some of these statements are that the film made, I don't know whether they are right or wrong, but they are statements, not facts! It is no wonder that at the start of every episode, for almost a minute or so, a disclaimer is read aloud and a sentence above each episode keeps on flashing - ZEE 5 is not liable for what is being said. It is a person's opinion. There's a much larger question at hand here though - what's the point behind having the same conversation, twice? Because there seems to be no change or growth between both The Kashmir Files! This doc-series clears that this is the research on which the fiction film was made. But was this just to inform people that the conversation has been generated about something people maybe didn't fully understand?

After watching the same conversation being reiterated, I genuinely hoped that this series would be about the people they were talking about rather than an attempt at schooling someone. Maybe then the impact of Hum Dekhenge would've been felt!

The Kashmir Files Unreported is currently streaming on ZEE 5!

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