Veteran actor Anupam Kher turned the spotlight back on one of modern India’s darkest episodes during Kashmiri Hindu Exodus Day, sharing raw emotions and stark realities from the 1990 mass displacement while filming his landmark 550th movie in Mumbai.
Exactly 36 years ago today, January 19, 1990, Islamic militants issued ultimatums via mosques and posters, triggering an exodus of around 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits from their paradise-turned-hell. Kher’s latest X video captures his voice cracking as he invokes the collective trauma.
‘500,000 souls fled their homes this day,’ Kher stated firmly. ‘Some question remembering pain, but it’s no different from celebrating triumphs—a tribute to the bereaved. What else do we have but memory when we can’t rewrite history?’
He candidly addressed post-Article 370 expectations: ‘Revoking 370 was right, yet fear persists. Improvements exist, but normalcy? Not yet. Elders I’ve spoken to crave return, haunted by memories to the point of breakdown.’
In his caption, Kher painted vivid pictures of desperation—suitcases as sole companions, refugee camps in Jammu as grim relics. ‘The Kashmir Files showed just 10% of the truth,’ he asserted, drawing from his portrayal of a resilient Pandit patriarch in the film that shattered box-office records.
Kher’s intervention transcends nostalgia, serving as a clarion call for accountability. It spotlights the unfinished agenda of rehabilitation, urging society and government to convert legal victories into lived safety. In an era of progress claims, his testimony demands we confront lingering injustices head-on.