New Delhi: The 69th National Film Awards were announced on Thursday, and director Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ was announced as the winner of the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha took to X, formerly named as Twitter, to react to the win.
Omar Abdulah wrote, “National integration,” with a laughing emoji. Director Vivek Agnihotri responded to his tweet and wrote, “This is the biggest award coming from you @OmarAbdullah. If you had commented otherwise, I would have been very disappointed. Thanks again.”
Apart from Abdullah, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha spoke to ANI and questioned, "has the definition of national integration changed".
"It is shocking that a film like Jai Bhim was ignored and a controversial film has been awarded the National Integrity Nargis Dutt award," Jha told ANI.
“Has the definition of 'National Integration' been altered?, why ‘The Kashmir Files’ has bagged the Nargis Dutt Award for the Best Feature Film on National Integration at the 69th National Film Awards, this award could be given to 'Jai Bhim' movie," Jha said.
Jha also posted on X, “If the award was given in the context of the definition of 'National Integration', then the selection committee did not have a better option than 'Jai Bhim'.”
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Anurag Thakur congratulated the entire team of ‘The Kashmir Files’ on X and wrote, “Today, as ‘The Kashmir Files’ receives the National Award for Best Film on National Integration, we’re reminded of the poignant tales it narrates. This film, with its heart-wrenching storytelling, sheds light on the untold stories from the Valley, echoing the pain, resilience, and hope of its people. Congratulations to @vivekagnihotri ji and the entire team for crafting a cinematic masterpiece that touches the soul and makes us reflect deeply. May our cinema continue to be a mirror to our society, fostering understanding and unity.”
'The Kashmir Files' presents a storyline centered around the 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi.
The plot follows a Kashmiri Hindu college student, raised by his exiled grandfather and shielded from the knowledge of the circumstances of the death of his parents. After his grandfather's death, the student, who had come to believe at college that the exodus was benign, becomes driven to uncover the facts of his family's deaths.
The plot alternates between the student's quest in the present time, 2020, and his family's travails of 30 years before.