A teaser of Chauhaan, an upcoming movie by Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, has evoked sharp reactions from locals in addition to Jammu and Kashmir’s regional political events over its illustration of pellet-hit victims.
The teaser reveals a youth hit by pellets within the eyes throughout protests. Mr. Devgn’s voiceover describes it as “restricted harm”.
Over 10,000 locals had been hit by pellets in Kashmir from 2010 to 2016. The best variety of 6,000 locals, together with protesters, had been hit by pellets in 2016, in 4 months of road protests from July to October of that yr, based on official information. Not less than 782 had been hit within the eyes, and lots of misplaced their imaginative and prescient in each eyes or in a single eye, the information present.
Ruling Nationwide Convention (NC) spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar termed the movie’s teaser “a compilation of propaganda”.
“It has put Goebbelsian propaganda to disgrace. It is stuffed with content material that may incite violence in Kashmir. Mocking kids and younger individuals who have misplaced their eyesight, some even their life, and opening up the outdated scars of their households is nothing wanting a spiteful agenda in opposition to Kashmiris,” Mr. Dar mentioned.
The NC spokesman urged the producers to “take the teaser down”. “Down with individuals who have a good time violence. Mr. Devgn, you’re a shame,” Mr. Dar mentioned.
Wajahat Farooq Bhat, who heads Save Youth Save Future, a non-profit working with victims of militancy in Kashmir, requested the filmmaker “to cease glorifying violence via fictional ‘alpha male’ heroes and limitless gunfights”.
“For many years, we buried our family members, lived via bomb blasts, gunfire, curfews, concern, and uncertainty. There was nothing glamorous, heroic, or entertaining about that actuality. It destroyed households, stole childhoods, and held a complete era hostage. Kashmir as we speak is striving to maneuver ahead,” Mr. Bhat mentioned.
Filmmakers ought to “cease decreasing Kashmir to a perpetual battlefield and its individuals as props in tales of violence”, he mentioned. “Cease recycling the identical narratives just because battle sells. We’re bored with others benefiting from our struggling whereas ignoring our progress. In the event you actually wish to inform the story of Kashmir, inform the story of resilience as an alternative of rage, of rebuilding as an alternative of destruction, of aspirations as an alternative of ammunition, of unusual individuals reclaiming their lives after a long time of ache,” Mr Bhat mentioned.
Many netizens termed the trailer as a “trivialisation”, and “deeply insensitive” in the direction of those that have lived via the devastating penalties of shotguns with metallic pellets utilized by safety forces for crowd management. Sahil Parray, a social activist, expressed concern over “the vilification of Kashmiris”. “Laughing at pellet victims would promote tickets? How rather more hatred are you (Bollywood) going to unfold?” Mr. Parray mentioned.
The teaser has been mentally disturbing for pellet victims, who’re nonetheless dealing with the trauma of shedding sight absolutely or partially in Kashmir in 2016. “The film teaser scrolled all the scene once I was hit. The mere recollection provides us sleepless nights,” a pellet-hit sufferer mentioned on situation of anonymity.
In response to an official analysis paper on the psychological value of pellet-hit victims in Kashmir, sufferers who obtained accidents to the attention had considerably larger psychiatric morbidity. Among the many ones with eye accidents, melancholy was the most common psychiatric dysfunction (30.38%), adopted by adjustment dysfunction (16.92%), panic dysfunction (13.08%), post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD), and (10.77%) with generalized anxiousness dysfunction, the examine mentioned.
Printed – June 27, 2026 10:12 pm IST
