IFFI jury member Sudipto Sen says Nadav Lapid's remark on The Kashmir Files was 'completely his personal opinion'

IFFI jury member Sudipto Sen says views of jury head Nadav Lapid on The Kashmir Files are personal and they as a team have not shared their likes or dislikes about anything.

International Film Festival of India 2022 jury member Sudipto Sen has said jury head Nadav Lapid's remark about The Kashmir Files “was completely his personal opinion” and that they as a team of jury members “never mentioned anything about our likes or dislikes”. He also said that the jury members “don't indulge in any kind of political comments”.

Nadav Lapid and Sudipto Sen along with other IFFI jury members at the festival.

In a tweet post midnight, Sudipto shared his statement after Nadav Lapid called The Kashmir Files ‘propaganda, vulgar’ at the closing ceremony of IFFI. The note read: “Whatever has been said by IFFI 2022 Jury Chairman Mr. Nadav Lapid about the film Kashmir Files, from the stage of closing ceremony of 53rd IFFI was completely his personal opinion. In the official presentation of the Jury Board to the Festival Director and in the official Press Conference, where we 4 juries (the fifth jury had to leave for her personal emergency) were present and interacted with the press, we never mentioned anything about our likes or dislikes. Both were our official collective opinion. As juror, we are assigned to judge the technical, aesthetic quality and socio-cultural relevance of a film. We don't indulge in any kind of political comments on any film and if it is done, it is completely in personal capacity - nothing to do with the esteemed Jury Board.”

He further wrote in a tweet, “We are proud to judge & award Best 6 cinema/individuals of our time unanimously. #IFFI stands behind its fair selection of films representing diverse themes & complex viewpoints from all over the world, just as it acknowledges their subjective interpretations. #IFFI2022 @nfdcindia.”

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Nadav had said referring to The Kashmir Files, “That felt like a propaganda, vulgar movie, inappropriate for an artistic competitive section of such a prestigious film festival."

Reacting to the same, The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri simply said, “Truth is the most dangerous thing. It can make people lie.” Anupam Kher, who played the role of a Kashmiri Pandit in the film and hails from the same community, also reacted to the incident in a statement to the media outside a temple.