SRINAGAR — The upcoming Bollywood film *Chauhaan*, scheduled for an October 2027 release, features actor Ajay Devgn as an Indian security official confronting stone-throwing protesters in Kashmir. The film's trailer states that a pellet gun only inflicts "limited damage," a portrayal that has drawn criticism from blinded Kashmiri civilians Feroz Aslam and Masroor Khalid.

Aslam, 28, lost his vision 10 years ago after being hit by shotgun pellets fired by Indian security forces during an anti-government protest in Sopore, Indian-administered Kashmir. "Seven pellets went into my right eye and six into my left," Aslam said. "And more than 300 hit my chest." The pellets burned through his cornea, resulting in permanent vision impairment.

"For the past 10 years, it has been my parents – ailing themselves – who have been serving me food," Aslam said. "Being their eldest son, it embarrasses me extremely. If the makers blindfold their eyes only for a day, they would know what it feels like not being able to see."

Masroor Khalid was 20 when he was blinded by pellets in 2016 in Budgam district while distributing sacrificial meat during Eid al-Adha. "When I turned a corner, there was a stampede," Khalid said. "I don't remember anything except that I was bleeding through my eyes." Khalid fell into a coma for four days, and his vision could not be restored despite his parents spending 2 million rupees ($21,000) on surgeries. Khalid has more than 300 pellets lodged in his face.

New Delhi introduced pellet guns in 2010 to quell street protests in Kashmir, and more than 1,000 Kashmiris have since lost their vision, either partially or completely. India's use of pellet guns increased in 2016 during protests following the killing of Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old rebel commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. Wani was shot dead along with two other rebels on July 8, 2016, by Indian security forces and police in Anantnag district's Bundoora village.

Saiba Varma, a medical anthropologist at the University of California San Diego, commented on the historical justification for the weapons. "When pellet guns were first introduced as a crowd control measure, the state justified them as a more humanitarian, less lethal alternative to bullets," Varma said. "The use of pellet guns was meant to shore up the state as a humanitarian actor. But now those narratives appear to have fallen away. The state no longer even needs these justifications."

The United Nations accused India of "grave violations" against children regarding the use of pellet guns in Kashmir in a 2021 report. In 2016, the Supreme Court of India cautioned against the "indiscriminate" use of pellet guns and argued that they must be deployed sparingly and after "proper application of mind" by authorities. The Indian government has previously defended the use of pellet guns as a non-lethal alternative to bullets.