The Tashkent Files is a movie which unravels the highly sensitive chapters from the 53 year old history. A high voltage drama, series of allegations, thrills, suspense, political drama and a quest for truth.

I am not a great reviewer but I ocassionally write about movies and books which are thought provoking and conveys some message.

Very few movies and books leaves a impression on the reader or the viewer’s mind which provokes them with a series of thoughts on a particular matter.

I don’t see things from critical point of view and may be that is the reason I enjoy the simple message it conveys and the movie, The Tashkent Files conveyed a very simple yet a vivid message.

The movie represents story of a young, energetic and a rookie journalist Ragini (Shweta Basu Prasad) who is looking for scoop, a unique story to give her career a boost. A scoop which could stire a sensation on the social media and T.V channels.

On her birthday she recieves an anonymous call and her life changes upside down. 

Tashkent Files Synopsis

Soon after Ragini decides to take up the case as a scoop she was looking for, she publishes a cover story in the newspaper which leads to a lot of turbulance in the political world.

It leads to formation of a committe of nine members under the jurisdiction of a powerful leader Shyam Sundar Tipathi (Mithun Chakraborty) which includes historian, judge, director of archives, journalist, social acitivist, intelligence officer and politicians.

Where everyone plays the blame game, confuses the intent, Ragini gets obssessed with the quest for truth. She goes beyond her capacities and unfolds the mystery and comes out with shocking revelations.

Her each steps agrrevates the level of danger for her as she in her journey of finding the truth has to deal with spies, politicians and people who dont want to be found, the more she gets closer to the truth the more hurdles crosses her path.

What is Tashkent Agreement

The meeting was held in Tashkent (Soviet Union) from 4–10 January 1966 to try to create a more permanent settlement. The Soviets, represented by Premier Alexei Kosygin, moderated between Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan.

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The Tashkent conference, under United Nations, American and Soviet pressure, compelled India and Pakistan to abide by their previous treaty obligations and accept Status quo ante bellum – to give away the captured regions of each other and return to the 1949 ceasefire line in Kashmir.

The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10 January 1966 that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.The war between India and Pakistan in 1965 was an escalation of the small scale and irregular fighting from April 1965 to September 1965 between both countries.

The conference was viewed as a great success and the declaration that was released was hoped to be a framework for lasting peace. The declaration stated that Indian and Pakistani forces would pull back to their pre-conflict positions, pre-August lines, no later than 25 February 1966, the nations would not interfere in each other’s internal affairs, economic and diplomatic relations would be restored, there would be an orderly transfer of prisoners of war, and the two leaders would work towards improving bilateral relations. (Source: Tashkent Declaration)

My thoughts

We all know India’s ex-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shahstri ji as the second Prime Minister of our country, but do we even know that 2nd October is not only Mahatma Gandhi ji’s Birthday but, Lal Bahadur Shashtri ji’s birthdate too?

Do we ever remember him? His significant contributions at the time of India-Pakistan war in 1960’s were commendable and noteworthy . The green revolution, white revolution which made India a food surplus country were all his initiatives.

Above all, his mysterious death in Tashkent was burried deep down in our history. Did he actually died of a heart-attack or was he poisoned? If he was killed what could have been the motive and above all if at all he was killed then Who Killed Shastri ji?

Lal Bahadur Shashtri ji died on 11 January 1966 in the then USSR’s Tashkent. He went to Tashkent to sign an agreement , which was criticized in India because it did not contain a no-war pact or any renunciation of guerrilla warfare in Kashmir.

After signing the agreement, Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died mysteriously in Tashkent. Shastri’s sudden death led to persistent conspiracy theories that he was poisoned.

The movie Tashkent Files provokes it’s viewer to question all these historical facts. I am neither a politically knowleadgeable person nor do I hold any significant historical knowledge but all I know is as the citizen of India, which is a democratic country there is a lot burried in deep past which was erased from the annals of the history.

Some significant events were permanently deleted from the memories of the entire generation and it is not the movie which tells so much but it is all over the internet. Even in the movie a lot of things were claimed but in the end there came a disclaimer saying that the authenticity of all the facts displayed in the film cannot be verified.

Also read my review on Evening Shadows

Now if you watch the movie or have heard about this chapter before, I leave this upto your imgaination if Shastri ji died out of heart-attack or was he killed? The movie is available at Zee5.

 

 

Much love and gratitude

Priyanka Nair

Recently, I have created another Professional Blog of my own named Sanity Daily, dedicated to In laws stress and Mental Health. Do visit once 🙂