Jammu: Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit on Wednesday demanded a probe to find out the people involved in selecting Israeli director Nadav Lapid as the jury head of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
Lapid has “mocked and made fun of the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits”, he said and added that strict action should be taken against those involved in the process of choosing him as chairperson.
Lapid, at the closing ceremony of the IFFI on Monday night in Goa, had termed the Vivek Agnihotri-directed ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda movie” and called it “vulgar”.
“It is a failure of our government, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and director of the film festival (for choosing Lapid as head of jury). You selected him without a background check”, Pandit, who is also the president of the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association, told reporters here.
“I am demanding a probe into how he was selected as chairperson of the jury. Who are the officers in the information and broadcasting ministry who were involved in this process? Let the probe uncover them,” he said, claiming that Lapid “is a supporter of Palestine…Please check his tweets”.
Terming it a “big conspiracy”, he said the matter should be probed. “He has mocked and made fun of the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits,” Pandit said.
