IFFI jury head's comments on 'The Kashmir Files' insult to Kashmiri Hindus: Goa BJP

Panaji: Bharatiya Janata Party's Goa spokesperson Savio Rodrigues on Tuesday slammed the comments of Nadav Lapid, the jury head of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), on the 'The Kashmir Files' film, claiming it was an insult to the "horrors faced by Kashmiri Hindus".

At the closing ceremony of the IFFI on Monday night in Goa, Israeli filmmaker Lapid termed 'The Kashmir Files' as a "propaganda movie" and "vulgar". He had served as the jury head of the film gala.

In his speech, Lapid had said he was "disturbed and shocked" to see the film being screened at the festival.

Reacting to it, Rodrigues in a media statement issued here said, “The statement made by filmmaker and IFFI jury head Nadav Lapid over 'The Kashmir Files' is an insult to the horrors faced by Kashmir Hindus (in the past)." "You can critique a film artistically but to term the truth about the brutality faced by the Kashmiri Pandits propaganda is shameful,” he said.

The BJP leader said he disagrees with Lapid's views on 'The Kashmir Files'.

“Having watched it twice, I did not find it to be 'vulgar or a propaganda'. It merely stated a brutal truth about a brutality that happened to the Kashmiri Pandits,” Rodrigues said.

He also offered to get Lapid interact with Kashmiri Hindus.

“Israeli filmmaker Lapid must be ignorant about the truth of the horrors that happened in Kashmir,” the BJP leader said.

'The Kashmir Files', which was released in theatres on March 11, was part of the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI and was screened on November 22.

Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following the killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

It stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others.

In his speech at the IFFI 2022 closing ceremony, Lapid said, "All of us were disturbed and shocked by the movie 'The Kashmir Files'. It felt to us like a propaganda and vulgar movie that was inappropriate for an artistic and competitive section of such a prestigious film festival." "I feel comfortable to openly share this feeling with you since the spirit of the festival can truly accept critical discussion which is essential for art and life," the filmmaker had said.

Reacting to Lapid's remarks, veteran actor Anupam Kher on Tuesday said truth will always trump falsehood.

In a Twitter post, Kher shared a series of stills of legendary American filmmaker Steven Spielberg's acclaimed film "Schindler's List" along with a picture from "The Kashmir Files".

"No matter how big the lie is, it's always smaller than the truth in comparison," said Kher, who had attended the special screening of the film at the 53rd IFFI on November 22.