"Nadav Lapid rubbed salt into our wounds": Kashmiri Pandits in J&K condemn IFFI jury head remarks on The Kashmir Files

Jammu, Nov 30: After several actors and Israel diplomats condemned the remarks by IFFI Jury head Nadav Lapid on the Kashmir Files, Kashmiri Pandits living in Jammu and Kashmir slammed the Israeli filmmaker for making such derogatory comments on the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits.

According to ANI, Yogesh Pandita residing in Jammu said, "Kashmir Files was 5%, they didn't see 95% of what happened. We welcome Israel Amb's statement condemning it". Another resident named Ranjan said, "Condemnable. He rubbed salt into our wounds."

The Kashmir Files is based on the Kashmiri Pandits genocide 1990 that happened due Islamic Jihad. A huge conflict erupted in Kashmir, forcing the great majority of Hindus to flee the Kashmir valley. According to estimates, roughly 100,000 of the valley’s total 140,000 Kashmiri Pandit inhabitants migrated between February and March 1990.

The film ‘the Kashmir Files’ revolves around the family of Pushkar Nath Pandit, a character portrayed by actor Anupam Kher, whose son gets named in the hit list and then gets killed by the terrorists, daughter-in-law gets killed in the public and grandchild gets a bullet in the head.

Speaking about the movie at the closing ceremony of IFFI held in Goa, the leftist filmmaker, in front of Information and Broadcasting Minister and other government officials, said, "I would like to thank the head of the festival and the director of the programming for the cinematic richness of the programme, for its diversity, for its complexity. It was intense. We saw seven films in the debutant competition, and 15 films in the international competition, the front window of the festival. 14 out of them had cinematic qualities, defaults and evoked vivid discussions."

"All of us were disturbed and shocked by the 15th film, The Kashmir Files. That felt like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival. I feel totally comfortable to openly share these feelings here with you on this stage. In the spirit of this festival, can surely also accept a critical discussion, which is essential for art and life," he further said.