New Delhi: The jury of 53rd International Film Festival in Goa has slammed the controversial movie “The Kashmir Files”, which revolves around the killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 from Kashmir Valley. Calling it “propaganda” and a “vulgar movie”, Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who headed the IFFI jury, said “all of them” were “disturbed and shocked” to see the film screened at the festival.
“It seemed to us like a propagandist 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,” Mr Lapid said in his address.
IFFI GOA 2022 Jury Head just publicly called #TheKashmirFiles as a vulgar and propaganda movie and calls it as inappropriate to have that the competitive section of the prestigious #IFFI pic.twitter.com/dqE1ylxXvb
— ForumKeralam (@Forumkeralam2) November 28, 2022
The Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi starrer, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, was featured in the “Panorama” section of the festival last week.
The film has been praised by the BJP and has been declared tax-free in most BJP-ruled states and was a box office hit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have praised on the movie.
In May, Singapore banned the movie, citing concerns over its “potential to cause enmity between different communities”.