Bawaal Row: Israeli Embassy Condemns ¡®Trivialization¡¯ Of Holocaust In Varun Dhawan's Film
Following criticism from the Jewish NGO The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Israeli embassy has now criticised Nitesh Tiwari's romance drama Bawaal for "trivialising" the Holocaust.?
Bawaal follows Ajay Dixit (Varun Dhawan), a high school history teacher, and his wife Nisha (Jahnvi Kapoor), as they travel through Europe and stop at significant World War 2 locations like Auschwitz and Anne Frank's Amsterdam house. The movie contains several contentious comparisons between greedy people and Hitler and marital strife and Auschwitz.?
In the scene, Janhvi and Varun are seen in striped pyjamas in a concentration camp.
In a statement, the embassy said, "The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialization of the significance of the Holocaust in the recent movie 'Bawaal'. There was a poor choice in the utilization of some terminology in the movie, and though we assume no malice was intended, we urge everyone who may not be fully aware of the horrors of the Holocaust to educate themselves about it. Our embassy is constantly working to propagate educational materials on this crucial subject, and we are open to engaging in conversations with all individuals to foster a better understanding of the universal lessons derived from the Holocaust."
Israeli ambassador to India Naor Gilon also tweeted, ¡°I did not and will not watch the film Bawaal but from what I¡¯ve read, there was a poor choice of terminology and symbolism. Trivialization of the Holocaust should disturb all. I urge those who don¡¯t know enough about the horrors of the #Holocaust to educate themselves about it.¡±
¡°Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is a quintessential example of man¡¯s capacity for evil", said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action.
"By having the protagonist in this movie declare that ¡®Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz¡¯, Nitesh Tiwari, trivialises and demeans the memory of 6 million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler¡¯s genocidal regime," Cooper said.
He went on to say that if the filmmaker's intention was to gain publicity for the picture by purportedly shooting a dream scene at a Nazi concentration camp, he was successful.
?¡°Amazon Prime should stop monetising Bawaal by immediately removing this banal trivialization of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust,¡± he said in the statement.
You can stream Bawaal on Amazon Prime Video.
(To?read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading?Indiatimes BINGE)
