Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor starring ‘Bawaal’ helmed by Nitesh Tiwari released on Amazon Prime Video last week on 21 July 2023 and it has received very well responses but one thing that has struck in audience's mind that the makers have combined the lead pair’s marital discord with the Holocaust in the movie.
The netizens said it is insensitive to show the couple’s romance parallel to World War II and now the Jewish organization has written to the streaming platform Amazon Prime Video asking to remove ‘Bawaal’ from the platform for its "insensitive portrayal" of the Holocaust.
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According to the BBC report, Simon Wiesenthal Centre has said in its complaint that the film trivializes the "suffering and systemic murder of millions" and he also said that Auschwitz should not be used as a metaphor as it's a "quintessential example of man's capacity for evil".
"By having the protagonist in this movie declare that 'Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz', Nitesh Tiwari, trivialises and demeans the memory of six million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler's genocidal regime," the Jewish organization said in a statement on Tuesday. And further added, “If the filmmaker's goal was to gain PR for their movie by reportedly filming a fantasy sequence at the Nazi death camp, he has succeeded.” Also asked Amazon Prime to "stop monetising" the film and immediately remove it from its platform.
However, actor Varun Dhawan talked about the issue in his recent interview pointing out that the said scene showed his "tone-deaf character" in a negative light. He said, “I respect the criticism. What I don't understand like how Sir (Nitesh Tiwari) said that it's a context and the protagonist is from Lucknow and it's showing that the character which is Ajju Bhaiya is initially a tone-deaf character. This is how it has been shown and it's not showing the character as a hero but as a negative. That's why all the praise is coming for the character that a hero for the first time gets to do a negative character. So the character is supposed to be negative. So, the way Nisha (Janhvi's character) will explain him in a way that he should understand.”
And the actor further added, “Secondly, I respect everyone's opinions and everyone has a right to have an opinion. Some people got triggered and sensitive about this but I don't understand where that sensitivity or the trigger goes when they watch an English film. They are allowed to do and show everything and you will find that in a correct way.”