PM Modi Praises 'The Kashmir Files', Says 'Campaign Being Run to Discredit It'

In his latest directorial venture, Vivek Agnihotri focuses on the plight of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a BJP Parliamentary Party meet on Tuesday, 15 March, during which he highlighted the role of the film industry in presenting history and praised The Kashmir Files, saying that there is an ongoing campaign to discredit it.

The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, is based on the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, and stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Puneet Issar, Amaan Iqbal, Pallavi Joshi, and others.

The film was declared tax-free by the Gujarat government on Sunday. The news was confirmed on social media by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. The states of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, and Uttar Pradesh have also declared the film tax-free.

"In Uttar Pradesh, The Kashmir Files film has been made tax-free," Yogi Adityanath tweeted.

IMDb Changes Rating System for 'The Kashmir Files'

A disclaimer is present on the film's IMDb page, "Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied."

On Twitter, the director had called the move 'unusual and unethical'.

In their FAQ section, IMDb explains their policy about 'unusual voting activity' as: "When unusual voting activity is detected, a different weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system. To ensure our rating mechanism remains effective, we don't disclose the exact method used to generate the rating.”