Bawaal Director Nitesh Tiwari Finally Addresses The ‘Tone-Deaf’ Auschwitz Controversy, Says “Please Do Not Question The Intent” & That He’s Hurt By It!
Bawaal’s Auschwitz controversy has been creating a major buzz and now director Nitesh Tiwari has opened up about it - Read more here
Nitesh Tiwari Opens Up About The Bawaal Controversy & Has Given His Take On The Auschwitz Holocaust Scene (Photo Credit: IMDb/Instagram)
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Nitesh Tiwari’s Bawaal released on Prime Video recently and has been unable to win the audience’s hearts completely. While the movie, featuring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor in the lead, tried to capture the essence of a broken relationship, the viewers did not like the fact that it used the Auschwitz holocaust during World War II for reference. Many found it insensitive and a lot of people questioned if it was necessary.
Recently, Varun opened up about the same and questioned why the film’s theme bothered the viewers when they are usually okay with watching English movies with the same sensitive backdrops.
Now, Nitesh Tiwari, while talking to Pinkvilla about the Bawaal controversy, revealed that he doesn’t mind constructive criticism but does have an issue with people getting personal and questioning his intent. He said, “You can question the creative process, you can question the creatives, but please do not question the intent. The moment you start questioning the intent, it becomes hurtful. It puts a question on your credibility, which has taken so many years of hard work to build. That is something that I think should be avoided. I’m all for criticism, but it should be a conversation.”
He added that there are several beautiful scenes in the film as well but the viewers are mostly calling out the Auschwitz scenes featuring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor. “There are so many good messages which are there in the movie. You take out one or two odd incidents, and run down the whole film. That means you do not believe in any of those strong messages which the film stood for,” Nitesh Tiwari added.
The filmmaker further explained the scene and tried to put forward another angle of it. “However, I am a bit disappointed with the way some people have comprehended it. That was never the intention. It would never be my intention to be insensitive in any which way… Don’t we see Ajju and Nisha getting completely troubled and moved by what they see in Auschwitz? They do. They see the prisoners, they see how they were stacked, they see how they were exterminated. Are they being insensitive about it? No. They are moved to tears.”
Nitesh mentioned that it’s not the first time he has faced criticism and shared that when Dangal released, many called the movie patriarchal as Aamir Khan imposed his wishes on his daughters. He revealed that many people found Chhichhore, a movie based on accepting rejections and failure, insensitive.
Let us know what you think about Nitesh Tiwari’s take on Bawaal’s controversy and for more such news, stay tuned to Koimoi.
