Bawaal Auschwitz controversy: Jewish human rights organisation demands removal of the film from Amazon Prime Video

Featuring Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor as a troubled married couple, director Nitesh Tiwari’s new romantic drama film Bawaal has lately been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Released on July 21 on Amazon Prime Video, the movie came under the spotlight due a controversial dialogue that likens the struggles of human relationships to that of Auschwitz. Speaking of the latest, Jewish human rights organisation, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), located in the US has now raised objections to the manner in which the film has treated the tragedy in its narrative.   

In the movie, produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, its lead characters - Ajay Dixit (Varun), a narcissist history teacher from Lucknow, and his beautiful but epileptic Nisha (Janhvi) travel to World War II sites, including a gas chamber in Auschwitz. In a dream sequence, Ajay and Nisha appear inside what’s thought to be a gas chamber, where they struggle to breathe. 

Also read: Bawaal review: Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor are the beating hearts of this convoluted film that takes its title too seriously

Referring to human greed, Nisha, in a scene, says, “We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?”, while in another sequence, she is heard saying, “Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz”. This was said in reference to the struggles that people face in relationships.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SWC has now objected to these mentions in the film. A global Jewish human rights organisation, SWC “confronts anti-Semitism, hate, stands with Israel, defends the safety of Jews worldwide and teaches the lessons of the Holocaust for future generations”. The organisation also works towards preserving the memory of those who were killed during the Holocaust. 

In a statement, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, has described the movie as a “banal trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust”. It has asked Amazon to “stop monetising” Bawaal with immediate effect.

Also read: Bawaal: An Absurd Enterprise Not Even Varun Dhawan Can Save

“Auschwitz is not a metaphor. It is the quintessential example of Man’s capacity for Evil. 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. 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 trivialisation of the suffering and systematic murder of millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust,” the statement further read.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Pinkvilla, the director defended his film and said, “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 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.”