The Kashmir Files row: Ram Gopal Varma reacts to Nadav Lapid’s controversial remark, says ‘one should respect…’

Nadav Lapid’s controversial remarks on The Kashmir Files have caused a major controversy as he called the Vivek Agnihotri directorial ‘a propaganda, vulgar movie’ at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2022 held in Panaji, Goa on Monday, November 28. 

Now, Ram Gopal Varma has reacted to the ongoing row and said that he was ‘shocked’ by Lapid’s comments. Speaking to India Today, “While one should respect anyone’s opinion even if we disagree, I found it shocking that he gave such a harsh statement about the subject matter of the film when he is a foreigner and hence he cannot have any knowledge of the background.”

When the film had released in March, the Satya director said that he ‘hates’ The Kashmir Files. Well, in fact, he was praising the film in his own style. RGV, as he is popularly called in Bollywood, shared a video reviewing the film in which he said, “For the first time in my entire career, I am reviewing a film. I don’t really review the film’s subject or the controversial content, I want to review it as a filmmaker on how the film has been made. I hate Kashmir Files because it destroyed whatever I learnt and whatever I thought was right.” In the rest of the clip, Varma applauded the actors, writing, characters, storytelling, and screenplay in the film.

READ | ‘Shame on you’: Swara Bhasker gets brutally trolled for supporting Nadav Lapid’s remark on The Kashmir Files

Concluding the video, Varma said, “I hate all the people associated with The Kashmir Files but I love Vivek Agnihotri for making this happen.” Even Agnihotri had reacted to his video as The Tashkent Files director shared a clip of the video on his Twitter handle and wrote, “You hate #TheKashmirFiles @RGVzoomin and that’s why I love you.”