The love that his latest film, The Kashmir Files, has been receiving from the audience has surprised one and all. And for actor Anupam Kher, who is a Kashmiri Pandit himself, the film is really close to his heart.

“The Kashmiri Pandit community was subjected to inhuman behaviour, exodus and genocide, and was forgotten for 32 years. I feel [with this film], the healing may start. The feelings they have had, the murders and rapes that happened… four lakh Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of the Valley. And the worst part was that nobody really cared for them,” he says.

The 67-year-old actor is content with the way the film, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, has been received. “I feel euphoric. What an amazing thing to happen. We had given up hope on cinema, saying, ‘Teen ghante ki film nahin honi chahiye, this is not a song and dance film, this was not publicised fully, [and so on].’ So, this is a triumph. My philosophy, ‘kuch bhi ho sakta hai’, is again underlined,” he shares.

Kher asserts that the success of a film like The Kashmir Files (it has earned close to ₹42.20 crore in four days) proves that a well-made film can find an audience. “All the theories that the pundits of cinema throw at you, like ‘aaj kal aisa hona chahiye, waisa hona chahiye’, aisa kuch nahin hai. It (the film) broke all barriers, which, according to me, will be a case study on how cinema and audiences have changed,” he shares.

Talking about the response he has been getting from the audience, Kher, who is also the executive producer of the film, adds, “It’s hysterical and unbelievable. When I meet people at airports, they hug me, they cry. And it has got nothing to do with Kashmiri Pandits. Any human being has that sense of guilt, [and they feel] how could we let this happen in our own country.”