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A Delhi-based advocate named Vineet Jindal lodged a complaint on Tuesday, November 29, against Israeli screenwriter and filmmaker Nadav Lapid for criticising the Hindi film The Kashmir Files. Nadav Lapid, the jury head of the International Competition section of the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), had said in the closing ceremony of the festival on Monday that the jury found The Kashmir Files to be a “vulgar”, “propaganda movie.” Lapid is an award-winning filmmaker who has written and directed Ahed’s Knee , which won the Jury Prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and Synonyms, which won the Golden Bear at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. Lapid has also been vocal in expressing dissent against the political situation in Israel and the Palestine conflict.
Vineeth, who is a practising lawyer in the Supreme Court of India, alleged that Lapid’s statements were made with “ill intentions towards the Hindu community.” "By calling a movie based on a true story of Hindu genocide by Islamic terrorists that happened in Kashmir as propaganda and vulgar, [Lapid] is abusing the sacrifice of Hindus in Kashmir and targeting the Hindu community to incite hatred in our country," Vineeth claimed, adding that the contents of the statement made by Lapid clearly show his “intent of instigating enmity between groups.”
In his complaint, Vineeth also asked that Lapid be booked under Section 121 (attempting to wage war), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A and 153B (promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 298 (intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person) and 505 (intent to cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Kashmir Files, which was released on March 11, is based on video interviews of the first-generation victims of the persecution experienced by Kashmiri Pandits which led to their exodus. Written and directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, the exodus drama features Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi and Chinmay Mandlekar.
"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," Lapid had said during his closing speech on Monday. His criticism has drawn flak from Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon, actor Anupam Kher and the producer of the film Abhishek Agarwal. Although The Kashmir Files had a good run at the box office, it opened to mixed reviews in India, with several critics, politicians and viewers criticising it as an anti-Muslim propaganda film with several factual inaccuracies.