Jewish Human Rights Organisation Demands Removal Of 'Bawaal' From Prime Video
Jewish Human Rights Organisation has slammed Nitesh Tiwari's 'Bawaal', calling for its removal from Prime Video.
Director Nitesh Tiwari's new Hindi movie 'Bawaal' released on Prime Video on July 21, and the movie landed in controversy immediately after the viewers found certain World War II scenes in the new Hindi movie as problematic and insensitive. Now, in the latest entertainment news, 'Bawaal' starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor has miffed the Jewish human rights body Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) and they have objected to the way the film has conflated the World War II tragedy in the narrative.
For the unversed, 'Bawaal' shows its characters Ajay and Nisha (played by Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor) travelling to the sites of World War II and the duo also visit a gas chamber in Auschwitz.
They are then shown inside a gas chamber which was used as a dream-like sequence and the visuals showed the characters struggling to breathe.
In one scene, Janhvi Kapoor's character says: "We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we," while in another scene, another character says: "Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz."
Now, Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), which is a Jewish human rights organisation defending the safety of Jews worldwide, has made its objection known about 'Bawaal'. SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper has asked Amazon to "stop monetising" 'Bawaal'.
“Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the quintessential example of man’s capacity for evil. By having the protagonist in this movie declare that ‘Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz,’ Nitesh Tiwari, trivializes and demeans the memory of 6 million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler’s genocidal regime," he said in a statement.
“If the filmmaker’s goal was to gain PR for their movie by reportedly filming a fantasy sequence at the Nazi death camp, he has succeeded. Amazon Prime should stop monetizing Bawaal by immediately removing this banal trivialization of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust,” the statement concluded.
Earlier, Varun Dhawan had responded to the criticism the film has been receiving for its insensitive parallels between the lead pair's romance and World War II.
"Some people got triggered or sensitive about this. But I don't understand where does that sensitivity or trigger go when they watch, suppose an English film, I'm saying for example. They're allowed to do everything there, they're allowed to take leaps and they're allowed to show things in a certain way, but you'll find that correct. I know people have got very triggered after watching a small scene in a brilliant film, recently released," Varun Dhawan had told Pinkvilla.
"It's a scene that's important to our culture and our country. But that's okay for you. You don't feel they should be more sensitive to you? So where does your criticism go then," he added.
