IFFI Jury Chief and Israeli filmmaker, Nadav Lapid calls ‘The Kashmir Files’ vulgar and propaganda

Goa – On 29^th November, an Israeli filmmaker and International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Jury Chairperson Nadav Lapid called filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’ vulgar and propaganda. During his closing remarks at the Festival, he said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘disturbed’ by the inclusion of the film in the competition section.

HinduJagrutiOrg protested and tweeted

#NadavLapid’s “vulgar” remarks on #KashmirFiles may have come out of ignorance or arrogance. He must open his eyes, learn the truth and #NadavMustApologize to Hindus for denying a major part of our history, the Kashmiri Hindu Holocaust.

And followed it up with another tweet :
@MIB_India & @iAnuragThakur must ensure that @IFFIGoa jury members are aware of Indian & Hindu sensibilities and not let them use IFFI as a platform to spew their bile. @MIB_India must ensure that #NadavMustApologize before he leaves Indian soil.

Who is Nadav Lapid ?

Nadav Lapid was born in Israel’s Tel Aviv. The lesser-known 47-year-old filmmaker is best known for his love-hate relationship with his Homeland, Israel. A Palestinian sympathiser, in one of his interviews in 2019, Lapid talked about his film ‘Synonymes’ to Now Toronto magazine and called the collective soul of Israel a ‘sick soul’.

Israeli Ambassador to India apologises and unequivocally condemns Lapid

Israeli Ambassador to India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, Naor Golin called out the Left wing Jewish filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who referred to the film based on Kashmiri Hindu genocide perpetrated by Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorists in the late 1980s, early 1990s, as ‘vulgar and propaganda’. In an open letter shared on Twitter, Ambassador Golin said that Lapid should be ashamed of himself.

Reaction from the film fraternity

Truth can make people lie’ : Vivek Agnihotri
‘The Kashmir Files’ Director Vivek Agnihotri took to Twitter and wrote, “GM. Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie. #CreativeConsciousness (sic).”
Veteran actor and one of the leads in The Kashmir Files, Anupam Kher, reacted to the Israeli filmmaker’s remarks – “No matter how high the height of the lie is … It is always small in comparison to the truth”, while sharing images from the film and those based on the Holocaust. Kher did not take any names in his tweet.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit wrote multiple tweets on the matter. He said, “I take strong objection to the language used by Mr Nadav Lapid for ‘The Kashmir Files’. Depicting the genocide of 3 lakh Kashmiri Hindus cannot be called vulgar. I, as a filmmaker and a Kashmiri Pandit, condemn this shameless act of abuse towards victims of terrorism”. He added, “Dear Anurag Thakur Ji, I, as a Kashmiri Pandit who is a victim of genocide, seek serious action against Mr Nadav Lapid, Jury head of IFFI 2022, for calling the depiction of our tragedy as vulgar. He has added salt to our wounds and hence should be made to apologise”.