“We were, all of us, disturbed and shocked by The Kashmir Files”
Israeli filmmaker and a jury chief at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Nadav Lapid, is receiving intense backlash after he criticized Vivek Agnihotri’s controversial film, The Kashmir Files. The filmmaker said that he was ‘shocked and disturbed’ to see the movie included in the competitive section. As per media reports, Lapid made the remarks in the presence of prominent celebs like Akshay Kumar, Anurag Thakur,Asha Parekh, Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rana Daggubati.
As per IndianExpress, Nadav Lapid shared the jury report during the closing ceremony of IFFI and said, “Usually, I don’t read from paper. This time, I want to be precise. I want to thank the director and head of the programming of the festival for its cinematic richness, the diversity and complexity…There were 15 films in the international competition — the front window of the festival. Fourteen out of them had the cinematic qualities…and evoked vivid discussions.”
He added, “We were, all of us, disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, The Kashmir Files. That felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival.”
Lapid was the jury chairman of the International Competition section of IFFI. He further explained, “I feel totally comfortable to share openly these feelings here with you on stage since the spirit that we felt in the festival can surely accept a critical discussion which is essential for art and life.”
#Breaking: #IFFI Jury says they were “disturbed and shocked” to see #NationalFilmAward winning #KashmirFiles, “a propoganda, vulgar movie” in the competition section of a prestigious festival— organised by the Govt of India.
🎤 Over to @vivekagnihotri sir…
@nadavlapi pic.twitter.com/ove4xO8Ftr— Navdeep Yadav (@navdeepyadav321) November 28, 2022
Director of the movie Vivek Agnihotri has broken his silence regarding Lapid’s comments and tweeted, “GM. Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie.”
GM.
Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie. #CreativeConsciousness
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) November 29, 2022
Actor Anupam Kher strongly reacted to Lapid’s comment about The Kashmir Files in an interview with ANI and said, “If holocaust is right, the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is right too. Seems pre-planned as immediately after that the toolkit gang became active. May God give him wisdom.”
