Actor Janhvi Kapoor produced witnesses to prove that people are enjoying some of the more controversial aspects of her new film, Bawaal. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and starring Varun Dhawan, the film was released on Prime Video on Friday to harsh reviews. Janhvi, Varun and their director appeared for a joint interview with Pinkvilla, where they defended the film, and said that their pure intentions should also be taken into account.
In the film, Janhvi plays an epileptic young woman, who is ignored and emotionally abused by her husband, played by Varun. But they manage to repair their strained relationship after travelling across Holocaust sites in Europe, and viewing their issues from a new perspective.
Speaking about the film’s World War 2 narrative, which also includes scenes set in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Janhvi said, “I know someone, he’s a professor at an Ivy League university, and he’s an Israeli. He had ancestors that unfortunately did not survive the Holocaust. He saw the film, and was very moved by it. He understood everything that we set out to do with the film, and never once in the conversation did he ever allude to being offended by anything. It depends on people’s views. The intention has always been pure, and always to acknowledge the turmoil, the devastation and the monstrosity of what happened.”
Janhvi said that the worst thing that can happen after a film’s release is that it doesn’t affect anyone, and evaporates without sparking any sort of reaction. “It’s important to understand the intention, always. And if you misunderstand the attention, that’s what I would call tone-deaf,” she said.
Recalling another anecdote about an audience member vouching for the film, she said, “It was at one of the screenings that we had for students of IIT. And there was a girl in the audience who said that she had an epileptic episode recently, she started crying, and I distinctly remember her saying that she felt stronger after watching Nisha’s journey, and how her parents have supported her, and that she was very moved by the film and the character. To see your film affect someone, and help them in what could be a dark moment in their life, it’s beyond anything.”
Bawaal is arguably among the year’s biggest Hindi movies to debut directly on streaming, especially at a time when most films are getting theatrical releases. Varun said in the same interview that the film is trending at number one in over a dozen countries.
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