Israel ambassador weighs in on Bawaal controversy: ‘Trivialisation of Holocaust should disturb all’

I did not and will not watch the film Bawaal but from what I’ve read, there was a poor choice of terminology and symbolism.
Trivialization of the Holocaust should disturb all.
I urge those who don’t know enough about the horrors of the #Holocaust to educate themselves about it.

— Naor Gilon (@NaorGilon) July 28, 2023

The movie portrays its main characters visiting World War 2 sites, including a gas chamber in Auschwitz. It also depicts a dream sequence inside the gas chamber where they appear to be struggling to breathe. In one instance, Janhvi’s character Nisha makes a remark about human greed, stating, “Aren’t we all a little like Hitler?” Another scene features the character saying, “Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz,” suggesting that all relationships face their own struggles.

The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialization of the significance of the Holocaust in the recent movie ‘Bawaal’.

There was a poor choice in the utilization of some terminology in the movie, and though we assume no malice was intended, we urge everyone who may not be…

— Israel in India (@IsraelinIndia) July 28, 2023

“The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialization of the significance of the Holocaust in the recent movie Bawaal. There was a poor choice in the utilization of some terminology in the movie, and though we assume no malice was intended, we urge everyone who may not be fully aware of the horrors of the Holocaust to educate themselves about it,” the Israeli embassy in India noted on Twitter on Friday, referring to the dialogue on Auschwitz.

“Our embassy is constantly working to propagate educational materials on this crucial subject, and we are open to engaging in conversations with all individuals to foster a better understanding of the universal lessons derived from the Holocaust,” it added.

Several human rights groups like the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) have also taken up the issue with Amazon Prime, asking it to remove the film from their platform. SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper has asked Amazon to “stop monetising” Bawaal with immediate effect and called the film a “banal trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust.”

He said, “Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the quintessential example of Man’s capacity for Evil.” The statement further read, “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.”

Director Nitesh Tiwari and the film’s lead actors Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, however, defended the movie. In an interview with Pinkvilla, the filmmaker said that while he takes criticism in his stride, he gets affected when the criticism isn’t “constructive”.

He said, “You can question the creative process, you can question the creatives, but please do not question the intent. The moment you start questioning the intent, it becomes hurtful. It puts a question on your credibility, which has taken so many years of hard work to build.”

Unpacking Bawaal’s Auschwitz scenes, the filmmaker noted, “There are so many good messages which are there in the movie. You take out one or two odd incidents and run down the whole film. That means you do not believe in any of those strong messages which the film stood for.”

He said that the Auschwitz scenes have ‘predominantly’ been understood the way he wanted. “However, I am a bit disappointed with the way some people have comprehended it. That was never the intention. It would never be my intention to be insensitive in any which way…”

Defending Bawaal, Dhawan asked why the same scrutiny and morality aren’t applied to non-Hindi language films. Though the actor, during a chat with Pinkvilla, mentioned that he respected everyone’s opinions and their right to have opinions, Dhawan became more touchy once he delved further into the subject.

“Some people got triggered, they got sensitive about this. But I don’t understand where that sensitivity goes when they watch, suppose, an English film. They are allowed to take leaps and show everything, but you will find that correct. I know people who’ve felt very triggered watching a small scene in a… It’s a brilliant film, but a small scene in a recently released film. But it is a scene which is important to our culture, and our country, but that is okay for you. Where does your criticism go then? But with us, you want to get personal.”

Asserting that the worst thing that can happen after a film’s release is that it doesn’t affect anyone, and evaporates without sparking any sort of reaction, Janhvi said, “It’s important to understand the intention, always. And if you misunderstand the attention, that’s what I would call tone-deaf.”

“I know someone, he’s a professor at an Ivy League university, and he’s an Israeli. He had ancestors that unfortunately did not survive the Holocaust. He saw the film and was very moved by it. The intention has always been pure, and always to acknowledge the turmoil, the devastation and the monstrosity of what happened,” she added.