Someone has to speak up: Nadav Lapid-a known critic of Israeli policies
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New Delhi: Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, who stirred a controversy by calling the movie 'The Kashmir File' a propaganda and vulgar film, doubled down his criticism, saying it is nothing short of a movie that has fascist elements justifying the Indian policies in Kashmir.
A day after Lapid's comments on the film became controversial, the Israeli envoy to India, Naor Gilon, urged him to make an apology before Indians. Instead of acceding to Gilon's demand, Lapid stood with his remarks, saying there must be someone to speak up.
In a conversation with an Israeli news website Ynet over the phone, Lapid said, "someone needs to speak out when countries are losing their ability to speak their mind or speak the truth."
"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," he added.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of IFFI 2022 on the night of Monday, November 28, Lapid had referred to the film as "vulgar" and a "propaganda movie", adding that the jury was "disturbed and shocked" to see the film being screened at the prestigious film festival.
The 47-year-old filmmaker's remark generated mixed responses from different walks of life, while many said how could a person who is from a community which underwent a similar kind of trauma criticise a film that depicts the pain of Kashmiri Pandits, others said he was within his right to comment on the controversial film, which vilifies and delegitimizes the pain of Kashmiri Muslims.
Ambassador of Israel to India Naor Gilon subsequently alleged, in a series of tweets on Tuesday, that Lapid was clearly drawing connections between his dislike of Israeli politics and the film, seemingly referring to the filmmaker's stand on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Gilon was right in his comments about Lapid as he used to comment on the political situation in Israel and often depicts his country's treatment of the Palestinians in his movies. Lapid is vociferous in expressing his dissents against the Israeli policies in regard to Palestine.
His Ahed's Knee, a feature film based on the Palestine conflict and Israel's autocratic censorship, won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2021.