'Every relationship has its Auschwitz': Janhvi Kapoor's controversial role in Bawaal slammed by Jewish group
"Bawaal", a Hindi film by Nitesh Tiwari, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, faces backlash for its depiction of the Holocaust. A Jewish rights group criticizes the film as 'disgraceful' and 'insensitive'.
Updated : October 20, 2023 05:26 PM IST"Bawaal", a Hindi film by Nitesh Tiwari, starring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, faces backlash for its depiction of the Holocaust. A Jewish rights group criticizes the film as 'disgraceful' and 'insensitive'.
Bawaal (Source:Twitter)
In a surprising turn of events, Hindi cinema's recent release, "Bawaal," directed by Nitesh Tiwari, finds itself ensnared in a web of controversy. Known for its stars, Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, the movie now becomes infamous due to its contentious depiction of the Holocaust. The film, which released on Amazon Prime Video on July 21, faces substantial backlash from critics and a Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, as reported by DNA India.
"A Film in the Eye of a Storm"
From its inception, "Bawaal" seemed to court controversy. The movie portrays a couple using the knowledge of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust as a device to mend their relationship. However, critics have slammed this approach, labeling it as 'tone deaf'. The situation escalated when the Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced its disdain on Twitter. "**If the film's shameless producers wanted to use such an outrage to gain PR for their movie they succeeded.**" They further demanded that the filmmakers either edit out the offensive scenes or that Amazon Prime Video remove the film entirely from their platform.
"Questionable Choices in Script"
One of the major points of contention revolves around a sequence wherein the protagonists, played by Dhawan and Kapoor, envision themselves as Auschwitz concentration camp inmates facing death in the gas chambers. This scene, along with dialogue lines like '**We are all a little like Hitler**,' and '**Every relationship has its Auschwitz**,' have been roundly criticized as being insensitive to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.
The screenplay penned by Ashwini Iyer Tiwary and produced by Tiwary and Sajid Nadiadwala, "Bawaal," despite the ongoing controversy, continues to stream on Amazon Prime Video. It remains to be seen if the demands for the removal of the film will be met or if it will continue to be part of the streaming giant's repertoire.
(Several parts of the text in this article, including the title, were generated with the help of an AI tool.)