ABSTRACT
A verbal exchange between two police officers in the popular film, Mission Kashmir , provides an intriguing insight into the contentious location of Muslim men in India and the social anxiety surrounding their loyalty to the nation. This filmic dialogue involves the Commissioner of Police (Kashmir) explaining to Inayat Khan (Inspector General of that area) why he should relinquish control over the Prime Minister of India’s security detail, “one Indian PM (Indira Gandhi) was killed by her own security guards in the name of religion.” Indignantly, Khan responds,
Mr Deshpande, it is a tragedy not just for Muslims but for the entire nation that a soldier who has braved bullets for twenty-one years has to repeatedly prove his loyalty because his name is not Deshpande, but Inayat Khan. My blood is in Kashmir. My nine-year-old son is buried here.
