Vivek Agnihotri slams Nadav Lapid: Urban naxal, terrorist sympathiser - watch video

Director Vivek Agnihotri has shared a video slamming Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid for his remarks against The Kashmir Files.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 53rd IFFI, Nadav, who chaired the festival jury, dismissed the film as a 'propaganda, vulgar movie'.

His statements have since sparked a political storm on social media and across diplomatic and cultural lines.

In the 2-minute-20 sec video, Vivek, speaking in Hindi, says that the comments are not a new thing for him as he's faced such criticism in the past.

However, 'it was shocking', he added, that the comments were made onstage during a Government of India-organised event. He further clubbed and dismissed Nadav Lapid and all critics of the film as 'genocide deniers', 'urban naxals' and 'terrorist-sympathisers.'

The video ends with Vivek challenging Nadav Lapid and all 'intellectuals' and 'urban naxals' to disprove the veracity of a single shot, dialogue or event of the film.

You can check out the video here -

In his closing ceremony speech, Nadav Lapid had said, "We (jury members) 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 IFFI jury board later issued a letter distancing itself from Nadav Lapid's opinions.

Naor Gilon, Israeli Ambassador to India, also posted an open letter criticizing Nadav's remarks, saying the filmmaker has 'abused' his invitation to India and should be 'ashamed' of himself.