New Delhi, Dec 3 (PTI) Sudipto Sen, the lone Indian on the jury of the just-concluded International Film Festival of India, on Saturday claimed that Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s remarks on the “Kashmir Acts” were his personal opinion. although three other co-jurors appeared in support of the foreman.
Sen’s claim comes after three members – American producer Jinko Gotoh, French film editor Pascale Chavance and French documentarian Javier Angulo Barturen – issued a statement on Twitter supporting Lapid’s comments, which sparked a huge controversy earlier this week.
Also read | Loki Season 2: Game of Thrones star Kate Dickie joins the Marvel franchise.
The account from which Gotoh sent the statement is not verified. Sen’s name is also not mentioned in it.
“As a board member, I stand by the fact that we did not award ‘The Kashmir Files.’
Also read | Disha Patani shares a photo of her injury on Instagram and questions why she is so clumsy (View Image).
“Now after that, if someone goes public and takes one particular film and says something which is not expected, then it is his personal feeling. It has nothing to do with the jury,” Sen told PTI.
Lapid, who served as chairman of IFFI’s international jury, called “The Kashmir Files” a “vulgar and propagandistic” film in his speech at the awards ceremony during the closing night of the nine-day film festival on Monday.
Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, “The Kashmir Files” depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following the killing of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The film, which opened to polarized responses on March 11, is one of the most commercially successful Hindi films of the year.
In a joint statement tweeted by Gotoh, the three jury members said they “stand by” Lapid’s statement he made on behalf of the jury.
“And to clarify, we did not take a political stance on the content of the film. We were making an artistic statement and we are very sorry to see the festival platform being used for politics and subsequent personal attacks on Nadav. This was never the intention of the jury,” the statement said.
When asked if he had been approached for comment, Sen said they knew they did not agree with them.
“I was the only Indian on the jury. I should have been part of that jury statement. If they excluded me, it means they know Sudipto is not behind it because it’s not true.”
“They’re not in the country now. I’m in the country. So I would be the best person to defend it, but they didn’t include me. That means it’s not a jury decision. If it’s a unanimous jury.” board decision, why isn’t my name on that statement?” he said.
As a rule, the jury cannot talk about one particular film, he added.
“We are a responsible jury. The Government of India has given us some responsibility. How can I talk about one particular film that was not selected when 16 other films were also not selected. If you are picking one film that you want to talk about, then it sounds like you should a certain personal agenda,” said the filmmaker.
Speaking at the IFFI 2022 closing ceremony, Lapid said he was “upset and shocked” to see the film screened at the film festival.
“We were all disturbed and shocked by the film ‘The Kashmir Files’. We felt it was a propagandistic and vulgar film that did not fit in the art and competition section of such a prestigious film festival.
“I feel happy to openly share this feeling with you, because the spirit of the festival can really embrace the critical discussion that is necessary for art and life,” said the filmmaker.
Sen said Nadav never consulted the other members about what he would say at the closing ceremony.
“I learned a gentleman from the NFDC told us that he took a print of something that came to him that was not given to him… So what he read was not an official statement. It’s his The quotes we read were official,” he added.
“The Kashmir Files” featured Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi among others. Both Kher and Agnihotri targeted Lapid for his remarks.
Agnihotri said he would stop filming if Lapid proved the events depicted in his film were false, while the veteran actor called the Israeli writer-director “a person who is himself vulgar and opportunistic”.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News channel, staff may not have edited or modified the body of the content recently)
