Films are fundamentally about telling a story or delivering a message in style, but often fall short in terms of substance. Many films can be temporarily captivating, yet when viewed contextually, they rarely lend themselves to deeper engagement or educational discourse.

This is the impression one gets after watching Arfat Sheikh’s US-produced movie, Saffron Kingdom, which appears to be a response to the 2022 film, The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Pallavi Joshi and Abhishek Agarwal.

While The Kashmir Files focuses on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits caused by a violent pogrom perpetrated by Kashmiri Muslims, Saffron Kingdom highlights the harrowing experiences of Kashmiri Muslims facing alleged abuse by the Indian state and security forces. The film draws inspiration from the disappearance of Arfat Sheikh’s father, noted Kashmiri singer Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, in 2003 while he was travelling with his daughter on a train from Jammu to Delhi.

The Sheikh family alleges enforced disappearance, but Punjab Police maintains that Ghulam Nabi Sheikh may have fallen from the train and died. Arfat has revisited this personal tragedy, expanding it into a broader narrative of loss and trauma.

Various themes emerge from the........

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