Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor's film Bawaal is in the eye of the proverbial storm for using the Holocaust to tell a story of marital discord. After being slammed by a prominent Jewish rights organisation, the Israeli Embassy in India shared its take on the "trivialisation" of the suffering of millions.
The Embassy took to Twitter and wrote, “The Israeli embassy is disturbed by the trivialisation 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.”
“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.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal fame, Bawaal follows a high school history teacher Ajay Dixit (Dhawan), and his wife Nisha (Jahnvi Kapoor) as they go on a Europe tour where they visit prominent World War 2 sites, including Auschwitz and Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam.
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The film, which tracks how the couple resolves their differences, goes into graphic recall of the Holocaust in several scenes.
Ahead of the film's release on Prime Video on July 21, Tiwari told a news agency that he had tried to incorporate chapters from history that contribute to the arc of the film's lead characters.
"I've kept the incidents and events, which kind of play an important role in the arc of the characters and their relationships in the movie... Every incident has been carefully chosen. World War 2 is humongous, there is so much to say," the filmmaker said.
