The 53rd International Film Festival of India ended on Monday with a controversial statement from the jury head Nadav Lapid. At the closing ceremony, the Israeli filmmaker crticised Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files' on stage, calling it a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival.
He added that he was 'totally comfortable' to share openly these feelings since the spirit of having the festival is to accept also a critical discussion which is essential for art and for life.
'The Kashmir Files', which revolves around the killings and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 from the valley, was also screened at the festival last week.
The film is one of the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year but it has been criticised by many for its alleged propoganda tone.
'The Kashmir Files' was even banned in Singapore since it was assessed to be 'beyond' the city-state's film classification guidelines. The Singaporean authorities reportedly refused classification of the Hindi language Film for its proactive and one sided protrayal of Muslims and depictions of Hindus being persecuted in the on-going conflict in Kashmir.
'The Kashmir Files' starred Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi.
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