Bawaal is more than just a small-town story. It’s the story of a snooty man who has a stunning wife suffering from epilepsy. No matter how gorgeous she may be, this handicap cripples her body and soul, both. This is the first of the film’s metaphors director Nitesh Tiwari attempts to establish along with his team of writers- Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra. The naïveté of Janhvi Kapoor’s characters always blends well with her real-life fragility. And Varun Dhawan tries to display here he’s a lot more than just a star imitating two other stars Govinda and Salman Khan. It’s only once the film moves to Europe the cracks begin to show. Tiwari’s idea of juxtaposing a married couple’s lifeless cord with Word War II seems to have done more harm than good to the story’s intent. There are mentions of Hitler, Auschwitz, and fictional visuals of the Holocaust. For a layman, the complexities of the story laced with multiple misplaced metaphors could be too hard to comprehend. In the need (and greed) to make a global impact, _Bawaal_ loses what it should’ve striven for- The local touch. Anyway, let’s move on to the most crucial conflict of the story- The World War II What is Holocaust? During the reign of Adolf Hitler , this practice was at its peak. This is what the definition on the Internet says- ‘The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population.’ The modus operandi were mass shootings, poison gas at extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz . There’s a reference of the Auschwitz in the film too.
What happened to the ones that survived? The Jews that survived were forcefully employed in labour camps where they died due to exhaustion and hunger. Many tried to escape but the lack of money and fear of accusations and being caught loomed large. The killings and brutality continued till the end of the war in 1945. The internet also describes Holocaust as the ultimate symbol of evil. Bawaal over ‘Bawaal’ Ever since the film has begun streaming on Amazon Prime Video, netizens have slammed the makers for their insensitivity and farcical approach. That’s not all, even the Jewish organisations have vociferously spoken against the depiction of the same. Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an organisation that works to protect the human rights of the Jewish community, has requested the streaming giant to remove the film from its platform. Statement from the NGO Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an associate dean and the director of Global Social Action at the NGO, said, “Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the quintessential example of man’s capacity for evil.” Nitesh Tiwari comments
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. 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?” Varun Dhawan’s take He spoke about a recently released English film without naming it but netizens feel it was Christopher Nolan’s _Oppenheimer_ . “I know people have got very triggered after watching a small scene in a brilliant film, recently released. It’s a scene that’s important to our culture and our country. But that’s okay for you. You don’t feel they should be more sensitive to you? So where does your criticism go then?” The film began streaming on Amazon Prime Video from July 21