Who Is Sharda Pandit's Character In The Kashmir Files Based On?

Vivek Agnihotri's directional film The Kashmir Files has been creating a buzz on social media after its release. The film is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the Insurgency in Kashmir in 1990. With mixed reviews, the film has sparked debates on social media platforms touching upon several socio-political aspects of the valley region and its history.

Several intense characters in the film are said to be inspired by real-life individuals and their experiences. Actor Pallavi Joshi who has also produced the film is playing the fictional character of Radhika Menon in the film who is a professor at Jawahar Lal Nehru University. Joshi's Menon is shown instigating students of the university making them to support 'Azad Kashmir' movement. While some think that the character is based on award-winning author Arundhati Roy, others think the professor's character is inspired by Nivedita Menon who also a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Sharda Pandit The Kashmir Files

Another character in the film named Sharda Pandit is said to be based on a real person. Many social media users drew similarities between Pandit's story and that of a laboratory assistant at a university in Kashmir valley. The latter was allegedly kidnapped in June 1990 in Kashmir valley from her home and was then brutally raped and cut in half by a carpenter saw while she was still alive, as per reports. In the film as well, Sharda Pandit's character is seen getting murdered in a similar manner.

Suggested Reading: Who Was Girija Tickoo? Kashmiri Pandit’s Horrific Gangrape And Murder Shown In The Kashmir Files

As per reports, the Kashmiri Pandit woman had left the valley after the 'Azad Kashmir movement' by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front started to gain momentum. Tickoo then went back to the valley in June 1990 to collect her salary after being reportedly told that the situation in the valley has settled down and safe. Later her mutilated body was found on the side of the road and reportedly the post mortem reports revealed that she was gangraped before her death.

Her niece Sidhi Raina took to her Instagram and urged everyone to watch The Kashmir Files as it "shows the horrifying nights not only my family went through but what every Kashmiri Pandit family went through." She also narrated what happened to her aunt.

Suggested Reading: Pallavi Joshi’s Character In The Kashmir Files Is Based On Arundhati Roy?

Some also seem to think that the character of Sharda Pandit also draws from the incident of 1970 when brothers, Naba Kumar Sain, Malay Kumar Sain and Pranab Kumar Sain were allegedly killed by members of Communist Part of India (Marxist) in West Bengal. Their mother was allegedly made to eat rice soaked in the blood of her sons.