Did LK Advani Cry After Watching 'The Kashmir Files'? No, This Video Is Old
The video from 2020 shows LK Advani getting emotional during the screening of the movie 'Shikara'.
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A video of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani inside what appears to be a multiplex is being shared on social media claiming that he "cried" while watching Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files', a film based on the lives of Kashmiri Pandits.
The video is shared in the backdrop of the film's release, with several videos of moviegoers making provocative communal statements inside cinema halls surfacing on social media.
However, we found that the video in question is from 2020, when Advani got emotional during the film screening of 'Shikara', another movie based on the exodus of a Kashmiri Pandit couple from the Valley following the insurgency in the 1990s, made by Oscar-nominated director Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
CLAIM
The video was also shared by author and columnist Ashwani Mahajan on 14 March with the caption, "Shri L K Advani watching #KashmirFiles (sic)."
The tweet has now been deleted.
Other social media users have shared the video with the claim that reads, "Senior BJP leader Sri LK Advani Ji cried after watching the film made on Kashmiri pandits... Jihad made one and a half lakh kashmiri Hindus homeless in 1990. For the first time, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri ji has dared to show the truth...Must watch The Kashmir Files film (sic)."
The video had over 47,000 views at the time of writing this article.
More archived links can be seen here, here, and here.
Twitter users have shared a link to a YouTube video that is posted with a similar claim, and the archived version of the same can be seen here.
WHAT WE FOUND
While scrolling through the comments section of the video on Facebook, we found that one user had replied saying that it was an "old video and from the film screening of Shikara."
Taking a cue from here, we searched with relevant keywords to look for news reports.
A report on the website of English daily Hindustan Times from 9 February 2020 read that the BJP veteran had become emotional during the screening of 'Shikara'.
The story was published on 9 February 2020.
(Source: Hindustan Times/Screenshot)
We also found the video on the official Instagram handle of 'Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films' posted on 7 February 2020.
In the video, Chopra can be seen sitting near Advani, while the BJP leader appears crying.
The caption of the video reads, "Shri L K Advani at the special screening of Shikara. We are so humbled and grateful for your blessings and your appreciation for the film sir."
The video was published on 7 February 2020.
(Source: Vidhu Vinod Chopra Films/Instagram)
Speaking about the moment, Chopra in an interview to ETimes, an entertainment website, on 11 February 2020 said, "Mr. Advani is very special to me and I owe it to him because he was the one who had sent me to Oscars."
Clearly, an old video of an emotional Advani at the screening of 'Shikara' is being shared now, in the backdrop of the release of 'The Kashmir Files'.
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