Too Early to Judge Panipat: Afghan Film

Officials in the Afghan Film, a state-owned institution, said Wednesday that it is too early to have a judgement about Panipat.

 Panipat is an upcoming 2019 Indian historical film that portrays the “Third Battle of Panipat” fought between Indian Army and forces of King Ahmad Shah Abdali, who is regarded as founder of modern state of Afghanistan.

Renowned Indian actor Sanjay Dutt plays the role of King Abdali.

The film, which is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, is scheduled to release on 6 December 2019.

The film’s official trailer was made available on 5 November 2019.

Following the release of the trailer, Afghans widely expressed their concerns about how the film may portray King Abdali; especially if whether the film adheres to historical facts or wanders into fiction.

“Historically, the Indian cinema has been extremely instrumental in strengthening the Indo-Afghan ties – I very much hope that the film “Panipat” has kept that fact in mind while dealing with this important episode of our shared history!” Shaida Abdali, the former Afghan Ambassador to India wrote on Twitter.

Afghan filmmakers believe that the film might have portrayed the heroism of Indian historical characters rather than an Afghan invader.

“Afghanistan national identity, history and historical facts are the most important matters in this film. I think the Ministry of Information and Culture will propose the ban of this film in the country,” said Engineer Latif Ahmadi, an Afghan film director.

Roya Sadat, another Afghan film producer and director said Indian directors are working based on rules in India, but they are expected to have paid attention to the sensitivities of Afghan society.

“You can’t censor a foreign film producer to produce what we want. I think we should have our own substitutes to compete with the [Panipat] film,” Ms. Roya added.

“We can’t tell a foreign country, a company, an Indian production, a film director or producer how they should portray their history,” said Sahraa Karimi, the director of Afghan Film.