"Film shows reality..." Goa CM Pramod Sawant after watching Yami Gautam starrer 'Article 370'

Speaking to ANI, Goa CM said, "The Goa government, the Entertainment Society of Goa, organized the screening of the movie. All our MPs and MLAs are here to watch the movie. I want to applaud all the artists in the movie. The actual story that should have been presented before the people, has been shown. The film shows reality to the people. The Article 370 was removed after 70 years, the actual reality of Article 370 was shown and how it was abolished by the government. J-K became an indivisible part of the nation. We dreamt of an 'Akhand Bharat' for years, the one without 'Do Vidhan, Do Pradhan, Do Nishaan', and it was fulfilled. When the youngsters and children will watch this movie, they will get to know the reality of the country and J-K. The director is from Goa, I applaud him too. The Gao government organized a felicitation programme for his team as well."

In the film that has opened to strong reviews and is drawing people to theatres on strong 'word-of-mouth', Yami plays intelligence officer Zooni Haksar.

Set entirely in the scenic backdrop of Jammu and Kashmir, the film is based on the landmark revocation of Article 370, which guaranteed special constitutional privileges to the erstwhile state.

In a bold move, the Centre on August 5, 2019, revoked Article 370, effectively stripping the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special privileges and splitting the region into two Union Territories--Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

On the positive reviews and early box-office success of her latest release, Yami, during a free-wheeling conversation with ANI on Monday, said, "We had full faith in the film striking the right chords and finding favour with the audience. We knew once a viewer watches the film once, his views and opinions in the matter (revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir) would change. A common refrain in the congratulatory messages that I have been receiving since our film hit theatres is that the youth should watch it as there's no propaganda in it."

Helmed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, the film also stars Priyamani, Arun Govil and Kiran Karmarkar in key roles.

Filmmaker and Yami's husband, Aditya Dhar, who produced this film, told ANI, "We could only work hard for this film, which we did. We knew once the film arrived in theatres, we wouldn't have any control over how it was received by the viewers. There wasn't much we could do. We just submitted ourselves to the audience and hoped for the best. We knew it was the audience, and the audience alone, who could give our film its due. Our film had characters based on real-life people, who worked tirelessly for the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. The idea was to narrate their struggles in real life and bring it to viewers through the audio-visual medium. However, we never imagined our film getting such a response and receiving so much love from viewers. We are truly overwhelmed. To those who called our film agenda or propaganda, all we said was that they should watch the film before judging it or running it down. Abrogating Article 370 was the biggest-ever decision that an elected government at the Centre has taken since independence."

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to 'Article 370' film while he was addressing a gathering in Jammu. He said, "I have heard that a film on Article 370 is going to be released this week... It is a good thing as it will help people in getting correct information."

Responding to PM Modi's speech, Yami took to Instagram and wrote, "It is an absolute honour to watch PM @narendramodi Ji talk about #Article370Movie. My team and I really hope that we all exceed your expectations in bringing this incredible story to the screen! "

The film has been produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar and Lokesh Dhar. (ANI)