Anupam Kher reacts to The Kashmir Files being ignored at Oscars after falsely claiming that it had been ‘shortlisted’: ‘There must be some problem’

Anupam Kher has reacted to RRR's Oscar nomination, as well as his film The Kashmir Files' failure to gain any sort of recognition at the Academy Awards. The actor and his director, Vivek Agnihotri, had both falsely claimed that the film had been 'shortlisted' for contention.

Anupam Kher in a still from The Kashmir Files.

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After helping spin a misleading narrative about the film The Kashmir Files being ‘shortlisted’ at the Oscars, actor Anupam Kher has spoken about its failure to gain any sort of recognition at the prestigious awards. Earlier this week, the song “Naatu Naatu” from RRR scored a nomination in the Best Original Song category at the Oscars. Additionally, the Indian films All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers also scored nods, in the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short categories, respectfully.

Even a film with Jacqueline Fernandez in the cast earned a nomination, and if we were to make a bigger stretch, there’s an Indian connection to the nominated band Son Lux as well. One of its members is of desi origin. But there was no sign of The Kashmir Files. Because it hadn’t been shortlisted, but had merely qualified for consideration, alongside over 300 other movies, by meeting the bare minimum requirements.

Also read | RRR composer MM Keeravani says he’s ‘full confident’ that Naatu Naatu will win an Oscar

In an interview with Brut India, Anupam said, “If now RRR has won Critics Choice award, and RRR has won the best song at Golden Globes, it is the greatest feeling for Indian cinema. Why should (we) not we celebrate? So, there must be obviously some problem with The Kashmir Files. I am the first person, who sort of tweeted that because I genuinely felt, ‘Wow the song Naatu Naatu, the whole crowd is dancing on that’. Because till now whatever films that they (Western audiences) acknowledged were about poverty of Indians, about some foreigner, who has made a film, whether it is Richard Attenborough or Danny Boyle about Indians (but from a Western outlook). This is the first time a Hindustani film or Telugu film or whatever, an Indian film, has entered the mainstream of cinema.”

Reacting to the film’s inclusion in The Academy’s list of eligible films for this year’s awards, the actor had said in a January interview with Hindustan Times, “It is a shortlisting, not a nomination. But the thousand mile journey is done by taking the first step. It’s a great feeling… I’m equally thrilled about getting shortlisted. It is the beginning of a big dream. I’m from a small town, who came to Bombay, and now to get shortlisted for the performance of a film.. It is a humbling feeling.”

This ‘reminder list’ also included other Indian titles such as Kantara, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Gangubai Kathiawadi and others. A separate ‘shortlist’ was also announced for several categories, none of which included The Kashmir Files. And yet, the film’s director Vivek Agnihotri had falsely claimed that it had been ‘shortlisted’, when he tweeted, “#TheKashmirFiles has been shortlisted for #Oscars2023 in the first list of @TheAcademy. It’s one of the 5 films from India. I wish all of them very best. A great year for Indian cinema.”

The Kashmir Files defied negative reviews and major controversy to emerge as a box office hit last year. It told the story of the Kashmiri pandits’ exodus from the Valley in the 1990s.

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