Israeli government rushed to intervene and distance itself from the “a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section…” remarks given by the jury head, Nadav Lapid, about the Modi-government backed ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
The Israeli government hurriedly launched its ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, for the damage control. The envoy apologized to India in an “open letter” on Twitter, a day after the jury head, Nadav Lapid, slammed the movie by calling it “propaganda” and “vulgar movie”, the other day.
‘The Kashmir Files’, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, revolves around the ‘exodus’ of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in 1990. The decision to displace the Pandits was, in fact, taken at the incitation by the then Governor of Kashmir, Jagmohan Malhotra, to communalise the Kashmir freedom movement, but the film portrays it otherwise. Even sane voices from inside India questioned the credibility of the film.
In the letter addressed to Nadav Lapid, the Israeli envoy, Gilon, said, “You have abused in the worst way the Indian invitation to chair the panel of judges at IFFI Goa as well as the trust, respect and warm hospitality they have bestowed on you,” he added.
“The India-Israel ties are very strong and will survive the damages inflicted by his remarks, Gilon went on to add in his tweets.
It is worth mentioning here that jury head Lapid had yesterday said the jurors at the film festival were “disturbed and shocked” by ‘The Kashmir Files’. “That felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” he said.—KMS
