Jewish rights organisation asks Prime Video to remove 'Bawaal' from the OTT

The movie has been in the headlines due to its controversies since its release. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, it got huge criticism for downplaying Jewish oppression in the Nazi regime

Bawaal's hugely controversial holocaust references are going global. Ever since its release, the film has been full of controversies. The Nitesh Tiwari directorial received heavy criticism for trivialising Jewish oppression in the Nazi system. The Janhvi Kapoor-Varun Dhawan starrer has ignited global outrage for an insensitive portrayal of the mercilessness toward Jews in Nazi Germany and for involving their mistreatment as a simple plot device to excite character development.

Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group has now requested that Amazon Prime Video take the film off its platform, for "its outlandish abuse of the Nazi Holocaust as a plot device."

 

Bawaal Controversy: Plot

A scene where the protagonists Ajay and Nisha are shown visiting the concentration camps in Auschwitz and rethinking themselves as the detainees in a dream plot has specifically annoyed the Jewish people community around the world.

In this scene, both the actors, Ajay and Nisha are shown wearing striped pyjamas and anticipating their demise at a gas camp. The film likewise involves Hitler as a metaphor for greed and self-centeredness. In one scene, Kapoor's personality Nisha mentions, “We are all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?” In another scene, the character ruminates that “every relationship goes through their Auschwitz.”

Bawaal Controversy: Controversy

Speaking to Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC's Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action lashed out at the filmmakers for trivialising the holocaust horror. “By having the protagonist in this movie declare that ‘every relationship goes through their Auschwitz,’ Nitesh Tiwari trivialises and demeans the memory of six million murdered Jews and millions of others who suffered at the hands of Hitler’s genocidal regime.”

He proceeded to promptly ask the streaming platform to remove the film. “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.”

Bawaal Controversy: Varun Dhawan

Dhawan answered the criticism against his film in an interview. Comparing a scene to Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer', where the protagonist is uttering the verse from the holy 'Bhagavad Gita' while having sex, the star stated that nobody calls out makers in the West for having possibly harsh content in their film.

Directed by Tiwari, 'Bawaal' spins around a small-town couple Ajay and Nisha who embrace a vacation in Europe to save their weak marriage.