Israeli Embassy Condemns Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor’s ‘Bawaal’ for Trivializing the Holocaus
Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor’s film “Bawaal” has been criticized by the Israeli Embassy in India and Jewish rights groups for trivializing the Holocaust. The film, directed by Nitesh Tiwari and written by Ashwini Iyer Tiwari, has been accused of using imagery and dialogues related to the Holocaust in bad taste. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a prominent Jewish rights group, said that the film “trivializes the suffering and systematic murder of millions”.
The Israeli Embassy in India also expressed its concern about the film, saying that it “trivializes the significance of the Holocaust”. The embassy said that it “assumes no malice was intended” but urged people to educate themselves about the horrors of the Holocaust. The film has not yet been released in theaters, but it is available to stream on Prime Video. It is unclear how the criticism will affect the film’s box office performance.
The film contains a scene where the protagonist compares his relationship troubles to the Holocaust. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said that the scene is “deeply offensive” and “minimizes the suffering of the victims of the Holocaust”. The Israeli Embassy said that the film “sends a dangerous message” and “could lead to the normalization of hate speech”.
The criticism of “Bawaal” is the latest in a series of controversies involving Bollywood films that have been accused of trivializing the Holocaust. In 2017, the film “Padmaavat” was criticized for using a scene that depicted a Hindu princess being forced to walk through a fire. The film’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, said that the scene was not intended to be a reference to the Holocaust, but the controversy led to the film being banned in several countries.
The controversy surrounding “Bawaal” highlights the sensitivity of the issue of the Holocaust and the importance of being respectful of the victims. It is also a reminder that even well-intentioned films can be offensive if they are not handled carefully.
