The Jewish human rights organisation Simon Wiesenthal Centre has complained to the manner Nitesh Tiwari's Bawaal, starring Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan, has combined the tragedy in the narrative. The main characters of the movie visit Auschwitz's gas chamber while visiting World War II locations. In a dream-like sequence that includes images of them gasping for air, they are shown within a room.
Where did it go wrong?
When discussing human greed, Janhvi's character Nisha once said, "We're all a little like Hitler, aren't we?"
The character is also heard remarking, "Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz," in another moment, meaning that every relationship has its challenges.
According to a report by The Indian Express, the organisation said in their statement, "Directed by well-known Indian filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari, the film’s storyline, which is set in contemporary times, leads to scenes in which the protagonists enter a gas chamber in Auschwitz and are suffocated while wearing striped clothing. Hitler is used as a metaphor in the movie for human greed, with the main protagonist saying to his wife, ‘We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?’"
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Condemning Tiwari and his film, SWC's Rabbi Abraham Cooper shared in the open letter, "Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the 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 6 million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler’s genocidal regime.
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"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. Amazon Prime (Prime Video) should stop monetising Bawaal by immediately removing this banal trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust," he added
Nitesh Tiwari’s Two Cents On The Controversy
The director had told Pinkvilla, that the events that Ajju and Nisha's characters observed in Auschwitz had a profound impact on them. They were shown expressing their emotions in response to the captives' suffering, their cruel treatment, and the physical abuse they were subjected to. The director emphasised that the characters' responses were far from insensitive; rather, the heartbreaking things they saw, like the photo gallery and wall of death, moved them to tears.
Bawaal is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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