'The Kashmir Files Unreported' review: Vivek Agnihotri's documentary attempts to dig deeper, and darker

Cast: Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi as anchorsDirector: Vivek AgnihotriLanguage: HindiThe Kashmir Files Unreported begins with Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi arriving to meet Himanshu Ganju, who’s character Krishna Pandit was a victim of the atrocities in Kashmir that killed his family. The haunting background score doesn’t really camouflage with the visuals on display when the documentary begins. Ganju begins by telling us how he misses his family and relishes the emotions of nostalgia, before unleashing the brutality of what his family went through. It would have felt far more organic and impactful had the narration been in English and not dubbed in Hindi.The idea of the documentary is to give a more detailed and dense look at the exodus and genocide that happened in the state, with Agnihotri and Joshi interacting with the victims and breaking the fourth wall to inform viewers how miserable, and mysterious it was. The filmmaker poses a question if the exodus ever happened, and takes us back in 1947, when the partition shook the nation. He says it’s crucial to unearth the truth of Kashmir to unravel the truth of the Kashmiri exodus. Just like any other documentary, The Kashmir Files Unreported also juxtaposes real life visuals with the narration of the people related to the event.The intent is in the right place, but unlike The Kashmir Files, where violence and vengeance both were visual and visceral, we have to be our own audience and envision how barbaric these attacks and stories could have been. The words of the people here attempt to explain the wounds the state of Kashmir has been inflicted with, how its destiny was unfortunately written in blood. It’s ironic that the place known as heaven on earth unleashed hell for some of its angels.The Kashmir Files Unreported is now streaming on Zee5