'If holocaust is right..': Anupam Kher slams IFFI Jury Head's remark on Kashmir Files

After IFFI Jury Head Nadav Lapid dismissed director Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files as a “propaganda, vulgar” film, Anupam Kher, who played a major role in the movie slammed the comments made by the IFFI's Jury Head. Kher, in a comment made to ANI, said, "If holocaust is right, exodus of Kashmiri Pandits is right too. Seems pre-planned as immediately after that toolkit gang became active".

Israel’s Consul General to Mid-West India in Mumbai Kobbi Shoshani also took to his official Twitter handle to share a different point of view. Israel’s Consul General Kobbi Shoshani commented that he "saw the Kashmir files and met the cast" and that he, unlike the IFFI jury head Nadav Lapid, "has a different opinion." The Israeli consular continued that after his speech, he shared his opinion with Nadav. Shoshani, although, did not elaborate on his own opinion about the movie.

Nadav had taken the stage to deliver a speech at the closing ceremony of the 53rd IFFI that stunned many as he declared that he was “disturbed and shocked” to see the National Film Award-winning movie The Kashmir Files at the prestigious film festival organized by the Government of India in Goa. He went on to describe the film as "propaganda" or a hoax without elaborating on why he thought so or highlighting any factual basis for his claims.

"All of us are disturbed. It felt to us like a 'propaganda, vulgar movie' inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious competition. I feel totally comfortable in sharing these feelings openly on stage since the spirit of the festival truly accepts critical discussion which is essential for art and life," Nadav Lapid said on the second day of the event held Goan Capital Panaji.

The Kashmir Files' plot revolves around the misery, pain, suffering, and struggle of the Kashmiri Pandit community who were forced out of their homes in 1990 in a mass exodus due to political upheaval, terrorism felicitated by the neighbouring state of Pakistan which also disputes the territory, and instability in India's only Muslim majority northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. It compiles instances from the real-life incidences of the tragic ethnic cleansing and persecution of the minority Hindu community called the 'Kashmiri Pandits'.

The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed violence years after India’s partition despite that it acceded to India on October 26, 1947, by its then ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, who signed the Instrument of Accession with the Union of India. The Kashmiri pandits became the targets of insurgency as they were ousted from their homes by the militants in 1989 after they shot Tika Lal Taploo, a lawyer and the vice-president of the J&K state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 14, 1989. As the law and order situation was ripped apart, violent communal clashes erupted with harrowing crimes committed against the minority Kashmiri pandit community that makes the plot of the movie The Kashmir Files. 

Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar react to IFFI Jury head's stance on film

As the Israeli IFFI jury head dismissed the historical event as propaganda, neglecting the plight of the victims, film's actor Darshan Kumar responded, saying "everyone has their own individual opinions on anything they see and perceive," according to ANI. The actor further continued, "but one can’t deny the fact that The Kashmir files is a film which has depicted the actual plight of the Kashmiri Pandit community, who are still fighting for justice against the brutal acts of terrorism.” Therefore, he stressed, the film is "not [based] on vulgarity but on reality.”

Bollywood actor, Anupam Kher, who garnered heaps of praise for his role in the movie, had earlier tweeted, "No matter how high the height of the lie is. It is always small in comparison to the truth.” He shared the pictures of the movie stills along with with his tweet. Meanwhile, Indian filmmaker and president of the Indian Film & Television Directors' Association, Ashoke Pandit, derided Nadav's blatant point of view. “I take strong objection to the language used by Mr. Nadav Lapid for #kashmirFiles. Depicting the genocide of 3 lakh #KashmiriHindus cannot be called vulgar. I as a filmmaker & a #KashmiriPandit condemn this shameless act of abuse towards victims of terrorism," he wrote.