Tag: Jhanvi Kapoor

  • Jewish group demands Prime remove ‘Bawaal’ over insensitive portrayal of Holocaust

    Jewish group demands Prime remove ‘Bawaal’ over insensitive portrayal of Holocaust

    The Bollywood film ‘Bawal’ has been slammed on social media for using the trauma of the Holocaust ss the backdrop of a domestic spat between a couple. Starring Jhanwi Kapoor and Varun Dhavan, the film revolves around a couple who travel around Europe to visit places central to World War II.

    The film had been met with intense scrutiny, with many calling out the film makers because of several dialogues. “Every couple goes through their Auschwitz” and “We all too are a little like Hitler, aren’t we? We aren’t satisfied with what we have. We want what others have,” are two of the objectionable lines in the film.

    READ MORE: Bawaal’s cringey comparison of Holocaust with relationships will give you second-hand embarrassment

    The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), which preserves the history of the victims of the Holocaust, has now issued a public statement where they called for the streaming giant Amazon Prime to remove the film from its service for “outlandish abuse of the Nazi Holocaust as a plot device”.

    “Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the quintessential example of Man’s capacity for Evil,” spoke SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper.

    By having the protagonist in this movie declare that ‘Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz,’ Nitesh Tiwari, trivializes and demeans the memory of 6 million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler’s genocidal regime.

    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 should stop monetizing Bawaal by immediately removing this banal trivialization of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust,” Rabbi Cooper concluded. 

  • Bawaal’s cringey comparison of Holocaust with relationships will give you second-hand embarrassment

    Bawaal’s cringey comparison of Holocaust with relationships will give you second-hand embarrassment

    After romanticizing predators and promoting Islamophobia, Bollywood thinks mirroring a toxic relationship with the traumas of the 1945 Nazi reign in Germany is what we have been missing all along.

    Starring Varun Dhawan and Jhanvi Kapoor, the film ‘Bawaal’ explores the troubles of a married couple who decide to visit all of the places in Europe that were deemed important to World War II, deciding that the battlefield would be the perfect backdrop to mirror the traumas of two elite people.

    A scene going viral on Twitter features Jhanvi’s character saying: ‘Every relationship goes through their own Auschwitz”.

    Twitter users slammed director Nitesh Tiwari for reducing a horrifying historical event to domestic spats.

    “Did they go to school or bother to watch any historical documentary?” one user wrote.

    Another clip from the film sees the couple discussing Hitler, with Jhanvi saying:

    “We all too are a little like Hitler, aren’t we? We aren’t satisfied with what we have. We want what others have.”

    Thee trailer for the film, released two weeks ago, featured a scene where Varun Dhavan looks at Hitler’s image and in the backdrop Jhanvi is saying “We’re all a bit like Hitler.”

    Responding to the accusations of ‘tone-deaf’ and ‘insensitive portrayal of a tragedy’, Tiwari spoke to The Hindustan Times about it.

    “While creating a character, you can go back and look at the events and incidents which can play an important role in the overall arc of that character and the relationship in general. It’s not just about Hitler. There are many more things that you may not have seen in the trailer. Every incident has been very carefully chosen that can have an impact on the overall arc.”

    Bawaal has been panned by critics with The Guardian giving it one star and saying it lacked in “fun, pep, humour and charm”. The Hindustan Times called it “the most insensitive film of the year.”

  • ‘Sridevi was like a mother to me’: Sajal Aly reminisces about Bollywood star

    ‘Sridevi was like a mother to me’: Sajal Aly reminisces about Bollywood star

    Sajal Aly has only praise for Bollywood superstar the late legendary Bollywood actress Sridevi, her costar in the Indian film ‘Mom’.

    Aly talked about her relationship with the superstar on BBC Asian Network show and her experience of working with her on the film. “First of all the experience was unbelievable for me that I’m sitting right in front of her, acting and giving dialogues, all that. And it’s just like looking at her you would forget everything. But I think the mark of a good actor is that they also need to be a good person. We are sometimes intimidated by actors in front of us, and also realize that this person is scared while standing next to us. But if you know, then the first thing a good person and a good actor would do is make the other person comfortable. She was that kind of actor. She had a lot of empathy and kindness towards me. For instance, I had that one scene where I was wearing this red dress and when I got ready she was like ‘Oh! You should curl your hair more!’ She was acting like a mother to me, although she was just a co-star. But the fact that she cared about how I’m looking and how I could look better, that is something that stole my heart.”

    The host Haroon Rashid reminded her of what Aly said once about not being able to open up to people easily, but finds it easier to act in front of the camera. He recalled his interview with Sridevi at her home in Mumbai, and told Aly that the ‘Chandni’ actor had said “the exact same thing, ‘I don’t know how but when I’m in front of the camera,and the camera is my friend and I open up.’”

    Aly said she felt the same way because the camera acts as a mirror in front of which you can be any character, and everything else just blurs.

    Rashid, also recounted asking Sridevi about ‘Mom’ after the interview, which had not being released at that point. To which the late actress had only said ‘It is Sajal you need to look out for.’

    Aly had expressed feeling extremely flattered and scared because she feels the pressure of proving she is a better actor

    “I didn’t know she said that about me, but of course in some interviews she praised my acting a lot. These kind of compliments, I get scared because I feel the pressure. I never talk about her a lot and the relationship we had, it’s something I can’t explain. Because it was really real. Because when we think of showbiz, its a glamorous and refined. But to find a genuine connection within this place is incredibly hard. But for me its been very easy. It’s the only reason why I say that I’ve been very lucky.”

    Aly also opened up about her friendship with Sri Devi’s daughter, Jhanvi Kapoor, and how the two developed a closer bond after both of their mothers passed away.
    “We met after six years[in Dubai], when my mother had passed away as well as hers. Probably because of our mothers as well we got a lot more closer. So I connect with her and she connects with me. We used to keep in touch but then she started her career and she’s busy with that.”

    Aly also addressed being cast the main lead for the upcoming adaptation of ‘Umrao Jaan’, revealing that she was already learning kathak lessons.

    The ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ actor said that this project was handed to her as a surprise:

    ‘My agents Hammad and Yaqoub came to my house as a surprise and said ‘You know how once we were talking about the project ‘Umrao Jaan?’ I said okay, hmm. Then they said ‘You’re doing it! We’re not asking you if you’ll do it, we’re telling you!’

    You can watch the complete interview here: