IFFI jury head: Kashmir Files is propaganda, vulgar movie
‘We were, all of us, disturbed and shocked after watching it,’ said Nadav Lepid
The Kashmir Files was called ‘propaganda’ by Israeli filmmaker and IFFI jury head Nadav Lepid, at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India on Monday.
Labelling the Vivek Agnihotri directorial “inappropriate” for artistic competitive section of “such a prestigious film festival”, Nadav said at the festival’s closing ceremony, “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.”
The film, which was one of the highest grossers at the box office this year, was screened at the festival last week. It was released in theatres on 11 March, and revolves around the killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 from the Valley. It was widely received in India but many have criticised it for its propagandist tone and singular narrative.
The film was even banned in Singapore and was assessed to be “beyond” the city-state's film classification guidelines. According to reports, the Singaporean authorities refused the classification of the Hindi-language film for “its provocative and one-sided portrayal of Muslims and the depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the on-going conflict in Kashmir”.
Kashmir Files stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumar and Pallavi Joshi in lead roles.
