Bawaal’s controversial Auschwitz scenes: Nitesh Tiwari hurt as people question the intent behind it

The controversial Auschwitz sequence in Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan’s Bawaal has now resulted into a controversy probably filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari wouldn’t have thought about. Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organisation, has now reacted to the issue and lashed out at the film’s director Nitesh Tiwari for “banal trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust.”

According to a report published in Pinkvilla, Nitesh Tiwari said, “filmmaker said that he is no stranger to criticism, and suggested that his intentions should take precedence over his film. He also spoke about the controversial scenes set in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and attempted to explain the characters’ behaviour in them. He said that while he takes criticism in his stride, he gets affected when the criticism isn’t ‘constructive’.

In one of the scenes from Amazon Prime’s Bawaal, the lead characters, Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan pay a visit to the World War II sites and an Auschwitz-based gas chamber where they struggle to breathe. In another scene, Nisha (Janhvi Kapoor) says, “We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?” referring to human greed. The third scene had a character saying “Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz” implying the struggles every relationship faces.

Nitesh Tiwari 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.” Reflecting on his career, the filmmaker said, “I have faced criticism on all my movies. Even Dangal. Some people called it patriarchal, and asked how (Aamir Khan’s character) could force his opinion on the girls. On Chhichhore, some people called it insensitive. Can you believe it?”

Unpacking Bawaal’s Auschwitz scenes, the filmmaker added, “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.” He said that the Auschwitz scenes have ‘predominantly’ been understood the way he wanted. “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.”