Actor Anupam Kher has responded to the controversy over Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid's comments on The Kashmir Files, calling it a "piece of propaganda".
Along with a video message, Kher tweeted: “The truth of The Kashmir Files is stuck like a thorn in the throat of some people. They are neither able to swallow it nor spit it out! Their souls, which are dead, are desperately trying to prove this truth false. But this film is now a movement, not a film. Let the #Toolkit gang keep trying.”
In his video message in Hindi, he said some people cannot handle the harsh realities of what happened in Kashmir, and added that some want a 'sanitised retelling of this story'. “Some people aren’t used to telling the truth. They sugarcoat it, they gloss over it. They perceive it through rose-tinted glasses. They especially can’t handle the harsh realities of what happened in Kashmir. They want a sanitized telling of this story. And that’s what they’ve been doing for over two decades. And now, when The Kashmir Files has rained on their parade, by presenting the whole truth without compromise, they’re bothered by it,” he said.
Without naming the Israeli filmmaker, he said: “This truth is a part of our lives. I urge you to go and ask the Pandits what they feel. India and Israel are friends. Both countries have survived terror. An ordinary Israeli can understand the plight of a Kashmiri Hindu. On the other hand, every country has traitors of its own; that is also a truth.”
While distancing the country from Lapid's comments, Israel's Consul General to Midwest India Kobbi Shoshani said The Kashmir Files was not a propaganda film, but a strong movie.
"The first person I called in the morning was Anupam Kher, my friend, just to apologise. Apologise about a speech that was a private opinion. (Lapid's remarks) have nothing to do with the state of Israel, officially and unofficially," Shoshani said on Tuesday.
Lapid, viewed as an anti-establishment filmmaker, had described The Kashmir Files as "propaganda movie" and "vulgar" on Monday night. He was chairperson of the international competition jury at IFFI.
Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, The Kashmir Files, featured Kher in the lead.
-with PTI inputs
