The Kashmir Files Row: Nadav Lapid Says He Was 'Apprehensive' But 'Someone Needs To Speak Up'

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who was the jury chief at the 53rd International Film Festival of India, has now opened up on why he shared his views about 'The Kashmir Files' on the platform.

New Delhi: Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid stirred quite a controversy after he called Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ a ‘propaganda and vulgar’ film. Lapid, who was the jury chief at the 53rd International Film Festival of India, has now opened up on why he shared his views on the platform. 

In a conversation with YNet, Lapid said that it was not easy to make such a statement and that he was apprehensive all day. “It is not an easy position, because you are a guest, I am the president of the jury here, you are treated very nicely. And then you come and attack the festival. There was apprehension, and there was discomfort. I didn’t know what the dimensions would be, so I did it with some apprehension. Yes, I spent the day apprehensive. Let’s put it this way: I’m happy to be on my way to the airport now,” Nadav told YNet.

He added, “In countries that are increasingly losing the ability to speak your mind or speak the truth, someone needs to speak up. When I saw this movie, I couldn’t help but imagine its Israeli equivalent, which doesn’t exist but could definitely exist. So, I felt I had to, because I come from a place that is itself not reformed, and is itself on the way to these.” 

At the closing ceremony of IFFI 2022 in Goa, Lapid said during his address, "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," he said during the closing ceremony of the film festival.” 

In a detailed video response to the criticism, director Vivek Agnihotri said that he is inviting "all the intellectuals, urban naxals and the so-called accomplished director from Israel" to prove that even one frame of the film was a piece of propaganda. If they did it, he declared, he would stop making films altogether.