Panaji: Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Savio Rodrigues on Tuesday retorted the statement of head of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) jury on ‘The Kashmir Files’ teeming it as an insult to horrors faced by Kashmiri Hindus.
“The statement of IFFI Jury Head Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid terming ‘The Kashmir Files’ as a propaganda film is an insult to the horrors faced by Kashmiri Hindus. You can critique a film artistically but to term the truth about the brutality faced by the Kashmiri Pandits propaganda is shameful,” Rodrigues said in a statement.
The BJP leader said, “I disagree with IFFI 2022 Jury Head Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid 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 Kashmiri Pandits.”
In his address to the audience on Monday, Nadav said, “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.”
Rodrigues offered to get Israeli filmmaker Lapid to interact with Kashmiri Hindus, “The Israeli filmmaker Lapid must be ignorant about the truth about the horrors that happened in Kashmir. Like the world prefers to remain ignorant about the horrors that happened to the Jews decades ago.
“I would like to invite him to meet some Kashmiri Pandits to know the truth because he is certainly ignorant about the truth in this case. I would like to take him to Kashmir to learn the truth.”
