- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Israeli consul general to Mumbai Kobbi Shoshani on Tuesday (29) reacted after his country’s filmmaker Nadav Lapid made a controversial remark on Indian film ‘The Kashmir Files’ a day earlier.
The former called the latter’s remarks a “big mistake” and added that they don’t reflect Israel’s position on the film.
“Concerning Nadav, we don’t accept it. I personally don’t accept it. Ambassador, who was there with me in Goa last night, doesn’t accept it. It’s his own private opinion. He can say that it’s the opinion of the Jury which is alright. But it’s nothing to do with Israel,” Shoshani was quoted as saying by Asian News International.
“I told him after the speech that he made a big mistake, that it wasn’t appropriate. Ambassador and I rolled out comments and tweets in a way that makes very clear what we think about using words like ‘propaganda’, we don’t accept it. He is not representing the State of Israel,” he added.
Lapid, a jury head at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in the western state of Goa, called ‘The Kashmir Files’ “vulgar” and “propaganda”. His remarks came during the festival’s closing ceremony and it went viral. While some praised the filmmaker, many accused him of being insensitive towards the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits as the film has depicted, despite being a part of a community which had experienced the horrors of Holocaust.
On Monday, International Film Festival (IFFI) jury head Nadav Lapid called ‘Kashmir Files’ “vulgar” and “propaganda”. His remarks made during the closing ceremony of the film festival, have since gone viral and have invited widespread criticism.
Shoshani, who said that the first person he called on Tuesday morning to apologise was veteran Indian actor Anupam Kher, who features in the film and hails from a Kashmiri Pandit family himself.
“After I heard the speech which we don’t accept, first person I called in morning was Anupam Kher, to apologise about speech that was a private opinion, maybe with some other European jurors, but nothing to do with State of Israel,” Shoshani was quoted as saying by ANI.
Speaking about his own experiences with the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’, Shoshani said tears came from his eyes when he saw the film. “It was not an easy film to see. I think it was shown in Israel too. We are Jews who suffered from horrible things and I think we’ve to share others’ suffering,” he said.
“From my point of view, I can’t force anyone to apologise. If you ask personally, yes I think he has to apologise because he entered a political dispute in India and it’s not something which he has to do,” he added.
Israeli ambassador to India envoy Naor Gilon also slammed Lapid and apologised on his behalf.
“An open letter to #NadavLapid following his criticism of #KashmirFiles. It’s not in Hebrew because I wanted our Indian brothers and sisters to be able to understand. It is also relatively long so I’ll give you the bottom line first. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED,” he tweeted.
In a series of tweets, the ambassador rebuked Lapid and emphasised how the friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage inflicted by him.
“The friendship between the people and the states of India and Israel is very strong and will survive the damage you have inflicted. As a human being I feel ashamed and want to apologize to our hosts for the bad manner in which we repaid them for their generosity and friendship,” he said.
The envoy also also accused Lapid of abusing the Indian invitation to chair the panel of judges at IFFI and the trust bestowed on him.
Former Israeli envoy to India Daniel Carmon also said Lapid should apologise for his personal remarks on historical facts without any sensitivity.
“He definitely should apologize for his revolting personal remarks on historical facts without any sensitivity,not really knowing what he was talking about. I strongly urge our many friends in India not to be drawn by one person’s remarks to doubting the facts about the #Holocaust,” Carmon tweeted.
“An unfortunate comment which reflects his own and only his own views and total lack of basic sensitivity or knowledge of what he talked about,” he added.
Reacting to Lapid’s comments, Kher on Tuesday said truth will always trump falsehood.
In a Twitter post, Kher shared a series of stills of legendary American filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed film ‘Schindler’s List’ along with a picture from ‘The Kashmir Files’.
“No matter how big the lie is, it’s always smaller than the truth in comparison,” the actor, who had attended the special screening of the film at the IFFI on November 22, wrote.
‘The Kashmir Files’, which was released in theatres on March 11 this year, was part of the Indian Panorama Section at IFFI. Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, the film shows the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following the killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
It also stars Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi, among others.
[With agency inputs]
