IFFI jury head terms ‘The Kashmir Files’ as ‘vulgar’, ‘propaganda’ film

Panaji, Nov 29 : Nadav Lapid, IFFI’s jury head, during the concluding ceremony of the festival, termed the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ as ‘vulgar’ and ‘inappropriate’, and said that the spirit of the festival can surely accept a critical discussion as well, which is essential for art and life.

Earlier on Monday, Lapid said that the IFFI was disturbed about this film.

Sharing the experience of the jury, he said that 14 out of them (international films) had cinematic quality.

“All of us were disturbed and shocked by the 15th film ‘The Kashmir Files’. That felt to us like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” Lapid added.

“I feel totally comfortable to openly share these feelings here with you on this stage. Since, the spirit of the festival can surely also accept a critical discussion, which is essential for art and life,” he said.

On November 23, Anupam Kher, lead actor in this movie, speaking about the ‘The Kashmir files’ had said that it helped people all over the world to be aware of the tragedy that happened to Kashmiri Pandits community in 1990s.

“It is a film based on true incidents. Film Director Vivek Agnihotri interviewed around 500 people all around the world for the movie. On the night of January 19, 1990, five lakh Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their homes and memories in the Kashmir Valley following rising violence. As a Kashmiri Hindu, I lived with the tragedy. But nobody was recognising the tragedy. World was trying to hide this tragedy. The film started a healing process by documenting the tragedy,” Kher had added.