MUMBAI: 'The Kashmir Files' director Vivek Agnihotri has said that the film was proving to be like a soft power in the world of diplomacy.

Addressing his first media conference in the Capital after the countrywide release of the movie on March 11, he said: "There has been a lot of disinformation regarding Kashmir in the West. Pakistan has been supporting lobbies and some within our country have also been spreading disinformation about Kashmir. Nobody knows about happened to Kashmiri Pandits."

Agnihotri said that the movie has made the West sit up and take notice. "We went from place to place and people were just shocked to see the real images of Kashmir," he said.

The director added that in the US he and his team went to a number of universities, met many leaders, but the highlight was the response on the Capitol Hill, where a Congressional reception was held for us. On January 26, 'The Kashmir Files' hoarding was up in Times Square.

"After the movie was screened," Agnihotri continued. "'Free Kashmir' posters were replaced at several places. That is what the power of movies can do."

Addressing a jampacked hall in a New Delhi hotel, Agnihotri said that movies had been made on Kashmir after the advent of terrorism, but they usually "romanticised terrorism" and never spoke about the atrocities on the Kashmiri Hindus.

He emphasised 'The Kashmir Files' has presented a truth before the world that no one knew about. "For the majority, the movie is an eye-opener, and for the country it negates the one-sided anti-national propaganda."

SOURCE: IANS