Anupam Kher has hit back at the ongoing controversy surrounding ‘The Kashmir Files’ after Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid termed his film “propaganda”.
In a Twitter post, the actor, who played one of the lead roles in the movie, shared his thoughts about the remarks made at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Monday night in Goa. Sharing the video, he wrote, “The truth of ‘Kashmir files’ is stuck like a thorn in the throat of some people. They are neither able to swallow it nor spit it out! The souls of those who are dead are desperately struggling to prove this truth as false. But our film is now a movement and not a film. The despicable #Toolkit gang keep trying a million times.”
Mr Kher, addressing the media with Israel’s consul general Kobbi Shoshani – who also condemned Mr Lapid’s remarks, said, “If you are a jury member you cannot use words like ‘vulgar or propaganda’. I think it is a vulgar remark by that person, who himself is vulgar and opportunist.”
“To use the platform of IFFI for your own agenda is not only unfortunate, it’s disgusting,” Mr Kher said.
The actor blamed what he called the “toolkit gang” for the whole controversy.
“A reliable source informed me that he was missing from his room throughout the night. This was not the statement he was to give at the closing ceremony of the film festival. What he said was entirely different. This is pre-planned as immediately after his remarks the toolkit gang became active on social media,” he said.
He said it’s shameful for a person from a community (Jews) that suffered the horrors of holocaust to make such offensive remarks on a movie based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
“The one who does not understand the pain of people of holocaust victims in his country, can’t understand the pain of Kashmiri Pandits,” Mr Kher said.
I as a Kashmiri Pandit reject his remarks, he said.
The actor said Kobbi Shoshani called him up to apologize for Nadav Lapid’s remarks and then came to meet him.
“That was Nadav Lapid’s personal opinion, it has nothing to do with the State of Israel. We don’t accept it,” Mr Shoshani told the media.
Mr Kher last night shared images from “The Kashmir Files” and the movie “Schindler’s List” on Twitter. “Schindler List” is a movie based on the holocaust.
The Kashmir Files’ was screened at IFFI on November 22 as a part of the Indian Panorama Section. The movie is based on the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s.
