Varun Dhawan on flak for Bawaal’s Auschwitz scene: ‘Where does your sensitivity go when you watch an English film?’

Nitesh Tiwari’s romantic drama Bawaal has been in the eye of the storm ever since it dropped on Prime Video India last Friday. In a new interview with Pinkvilla, Nitesh and actors Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor have responded to the criticism for drawing a far-fetched and insensitive parallel between the lead pair’s romance and World War II. (Also Read: Bawaal review: Hitler saves a toxic marriage in the most insensitive film of the year, so far)

The contentious lines in the film include one where a Holocaust survivor says “every relationship goes through its Auschwitz, referring to the Nazi Germany’s infamous concentration camp where countless of Jews were eliminated. Another contentious line sees Janhvi’s character say that every human has a Hitler within because they’re greedy.

Varun Dhawan responds

Varun Dhawan issued an early disclaimer during the interview that he’s not as receptive of the criticism coming his way, but is getting better at taking it on the chin gradually. When asked to address the social media debate around the Auschwitz controversy, Varun said in the interview, “Some people got trigged or sensitive about this. But I don’t understand where does that sensitivity or trigger go when they watch, suppose an English film, I’m saying for example. They’re allowed to do everything there, they’re allowed to take leaps and they’re allowed to show things in a certain way, but you’ll find that correct. 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?”

Varun seemingly referred to the controversial Bhagavad Geeta scene in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, that released on the same day as Bawaal, in cinemas. The scene shows the titular character of J Robert Oppenheimer invoking Bhagavad Geeta during after having sex with his girlfriend. While many have objected to the scene, with I&B Minister Anurag Thakur reportedly pulling up the Central Board of Film Certification for the same, Varun seems to claim that the film hasn’t been called out enough for its insensitivity towards the Indian culture.

Nitesh Tiwari responds

In the same interview, Nitesh said, “You start looking at a film with a magnifying glass, you’ll find problem with every piece of work created. There’s no piece of work without problem if you decide to watch it with a magnifying glass, which is not how a film should be watched.”

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