Israel's Ambassador Naor Gilon has apologized to India a day after Tel Aviv filmmaker Nadav Lapid sparked a row with his remarks about a movie highlighting Kashmiri Hindus' plight in the 1990s.
Ambassador Gilon took to social media, expressing disapproval of Lapid who called the Indian movie 'The Kashmir Files,' a "vulgar" piece of "propaganda" filmmaking "inappropriate for a competitive artistic section of such a prestigious film festival."
Lapid was jury president at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). His remarks came during the event's closing ceremony in the presence of India's Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur and Goa state chief Pramod Sawant.
"As a human being, I feel ashamed and want to apologize to our hosts for the bad manner in which we repaid them for their generosity and friendship," Gilson wrote in an open letter to the filmmakers.
"As a son of a holocaust survivor, I was extremely hurt to see reactions in India to you that are doubting Schindler's List, the Holocaust and worse," the diplomat added.
Meanwhile, IFFI panel member Sudipto Sen clarified that Lapid made the comments in a personal capacity and that they did not reflect the panel's view.
"As a juror, we are assigned to judge the technical, aesthetic quality and socio-cultural relevance of a film. We don't indulge in any kind of political comments on any film and if it is done, it is completely in a personal capacity – nothing to do with esteemed jury board," Sen tweeted.
What is 'The Kashmiri Files' About?
The movie, directed by Vivek Agnihotri, tells a fictional story of a student who discovers that Islamic militants killed his Kashmiri Hindu parents.
In the 1990s, around 62,000 Kashmiri Pandit (a minority group in Kashmir) families from Jammu and Kashmir were forced to flee their homes, while hundreds of thousands were killed amid escalating violence against Hindus.
Meanwhile, acclaimed Indian actor Anupam Kher, who also plays the leading role in the movie, said: "The truth of The Kashmir Files is stuck like a thorn in the throat of some people. They are neither able to swallow it nor spit it out! Their souls, which are dead, are desperately trying to prove this truth false. But this film is now a movement, not a film."
The movie was released in March and received mixed reviews from film critics.