Israeli envoy slams Nadav Lapid for ‘Kashmir Files’ remark; IFFI jury says opinion ‘personal’

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s comments on The Kashmir Files as the jury head of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) have stirred up a hornet’s nest. It has even prompted the Israeli ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, to criticise Lapid for his remarks and apologise to India.

Meanwhile, a Delhi-based lawyer has filed a complaint against Lapid with the Goa police. Advocate Jindal said he filed a complaint against the filmmaker for “abusing Hindu community sacrifice made in Kashmir”.

The controversy erupted after Lapid called the Vivek Agnihotri-directed film “vulgar” and “propaganda” during his address at the closing ceremony of the film festival in Goa on Monday evening. Sharing the experience of the jury, he said 14 of the films (international) had cinematic quality, but the 15th film was disturbing.

A sensitive issue of justice for Kashmiri Pandits was sacrificed at the altar of propaganda. This is a must listen segment at the #IFFIGoa2022 : pic.twitter.com/zd1WgKoUNa

— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) November 28, 2022

“We were, all of us, disturbed and shocked by the 15th film: The Kashmir Files. That felt to us like propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. I feel totally comfortable to share openly these feelings here with you on stage. Since the spirit of having a festival is to accept also a critical discussion, which is essential for art and for life,” Lapid said.

Israeli ambassador speaks

In an open letter to Lapid, Gilon wrote on Twitter, “In Indian culture they say that a guest is like God. You have abused in the worst way the Indian invitation to chair the panel of judges at @IFFIGoa as well as the trust, respect and warm hospitality they have bestowed on you.”

In a series of tweets, he went on to write, “I’m no film expert but I do know that it’s insensitive and presumptuous to speak about historic events before deeply studying them and which are an open wound in India because many of the involved are still around and still paying a price.”

An open letter to #NadavLapid following his criticism of #KashmirFiles. It’s not in Hebrew because I wanted our Indian brothers and sisters to be able to understand. It is also relatively long so I’ll give you the bottom line first. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/8YpSQGMXIR

— Naor Gilon (@NaorGilon) November 29, 2022

Gilon wrote that “as a son of a holocaust survivor,” he was “extremely hurt to see (the) reactions in India.” He wrote, “The friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage you have inflicted. As a human being I feel ashamed and want to apologize to our hosts for the bad manner in which we repaid them for their generosity and friendship.”

IFFI jury member’s clarification

As Lapid’s comments drew massive flak on social media, fellow IFFI jury member Sudipto Sen tweeted a clarification that Lapid’s opinions were personal and did not reflect that of the jury. As a juror, the writer and director refrained from making any political comments.

#IFFI #IFFI2022 @nfdcindia @ianuragthakur pic.twitter.com/GBhtw0tH6C

— Sudipto SEN (@sudiptoSENtlm) November 28, 2022

“Whatever has been said by IFFI 2022 Jury Chairman Mr Nadav Lapid about the film, The Kashmir Files, from the stage of closing ceremony of 53-rd IFFI was completely his personal opinion. In the official presentation of the Jury Board to the Festival Director and in the official Press Conference, where we 4 juries (the fifth jury had to leave for her personal emergency) were present and interacted with the press, we never mentioned anything about our likes or dislikes. Both were our official collective opinion. As juror, we are assigned to judge the technical, aesthetic quality and socio-cultural relevance of a film. We don’t indulge in any kind of political comments on any film and if it is done, it is completely in personal capacity — nothing to do with the esteemed Jury Board (sic),” Sen tweeted.

Apart from Lapid and Sen, the jury members of this year’s IFFI included documentary filmmaker from France, Javier Angulo Barturen, film editor from France, Pascale Chavance, and animation film producer from the US, Jinko Gotoh.

Reaction from actor

The Kashmir Files was screened at the IFFI on November 22 as a part of the Indian Panorama Section. The film, starring Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Mithun Chakraborty, and Darshan Kumar, is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s. The film hit the theatres in March 2022 and was a huge box office success.

Kher called Lapid’s criticism of The Kashmir Files “pre-planned” and accused him of being insensitive towards the suffering of Kashmiri Pandits. “This seems pre-planned, as immediately after his remarks the toolkit gang became active,” Kher told ANI.

He said it was shameful for a person from (the Jewish) community, which suffered the horrors of holocaust, to make such offensive remarks on a film based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. “May God give him wisdom. If the holocaust is right, then the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is also right,” Kher added.

Sharing images from The Kashmir Files and Schindler’s List (based on the holocaust) on Twitter, Kher wrote, “No matter how big the lie is, it’s always small in comparison to the truth.”

झूट का क़द कितना भी ऊँचा क्यों ना हो..
सत्य के मुक़ाबले में हमेशा छोटा ही होता है.. pic.twitter.com/OfOiFgkKtD

— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) November 28, 2022

On November 23, Kher said The Kashmir Files helped people worldwide to be aware of the tragedy that befell Kashmiri Pandits in 1990s.

Saying that the film was based on true incidents, Kher added that director Agnihotri had interviewed around 500 people all over the world before making the film. “On the night of January 19, 1990, five lakh Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their homes and memories in the Kashmir Valley following rising violence. As a Kashmiri Hindu, I lived with the tragedy. But nobody was recognising the tragedy. The world was trying to hide this tragedy. The film started a healing process by documenting the tragedy,” Kher said.

(With agency inputs)