The Vivek Agnihotri-directed and Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi starrer ‘The Kashmir Files’ has hit the headlines yet again. The film was earlier praised for its content and is now talked about yet again for the same reason. This time, only in a bad light. The jury chairman of the International Competition section of the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Nadav Lapid called ‘The Kashmir Files’ “propaganda” and “vulgar”. Lapid said, “There were 15 films in the international competition — the front window of the festival. Fourteen out of them had the cinematic qualities… and evoked vivid discussions. We were, all of us, 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.” While many from the jury itself have distanced themselves from this controversy, Kher and some others even reacted strongly to it. After so much brouhaha, if Nadav Lapid plans to tender an apology still remains a mystery.
