After Anupam Kher and Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi reacts to Nadav Lapid’s criticism of The Kashmir Files

After The Kashmir Files was criticised by Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, the jury chair at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Pallavi Joshi, who starred in and produced the film, has come out with a statement. The statement was shared by the actor-producer on her official social media handles.

In the statement Joshi spoke of how the international community ‘remained silent’ about what the Kashmiri Pundit Community went through. The actress expressed displeasure at a creative platform being used to ‘preserve’ a ‘false and jaded narrative about Kashmir’. Joshi thanked the public for defending their film and also expressed her gratitude to the Israeli Ambassador and consul general for their support. She also added that The Kashmir Files would remain a ‘people’s film’.

The post was captioned “Here is my official statement to Nadav Lapid. Jai Hind”.

Check out Joshi’s statement below:

The Kashmir Files was showcased as a part of IFFI's Indian Panorama Section, on November 22. In his remarks during the closing ceremony of IFFI 2022, Lapid had called the Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri directorial ‘vulgar and filled with ‘propaganda’. The jury chair had declared that the film disturbed and startled them and that it did not belong at the popular film festival.

Besides Joshi, the film’s stars Anupam Kher and Darshan Kumaar had also responded to the criticism. Kher had Tweeted about how the truth would always be taller than lies, sharing a few stills from the film. Kumaar had told ANI that the film was based on reality and had tried to throw light on the suffering of Kashmiri Pundits who are still waiting to get justice. The film’s director Agnihotri had tweeted a cryptic message, saying “GM. Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie. #CreativeConsciousness”.

The Kashmir Files is available for streaming on ZEE5.