The Bollywood film ‘The Kashmir Files’ has been banned in Singapore because it is “outside” the city-cinema state’s classification criteria. According to sources, Singaporean authorities denied the Hindi-language film classification due to “its aggressive and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and images of Hindus being persecuted in the on-going strife in Kashmir.”
‘The Kashmir Files,’ which has been screening in India since March, is based on the terrorism-related exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Muslim-majority Valley in the 1990s.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), and the Ministry of Home Affairs made a joint statement in Singapore (MHA).
They said that the film’s depictions “had the potential to generate hostility amongst different communities, as well as destroy social cohesiveness and religious harmony in our multiracial and multi-religious society.”
“Any material that is insulting to racial or religious communities in Singapore” will be refused classification, according to the film classification criteria.
Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi feature in the Vivek Agnihotri-directed film.
The ruling party in India has praised the film, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah praising the performances and subject. In most BJP-ruled states, the film has been declared tax-free.
