Vishal Bhardwaj's statement about Kashmiri Pandits angers Anupam Kher

Mumbai: Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Haider’ was on a winning spree on Tuesday, after the critically acclaimed film bagged five National Awards. At a press conference for the same, the director decided to dedicate the awards to Kashmiri Pandits.

Vishal was reportedly asked about the Kashmiri Pandit genocide that was originally in the book, but which he had skipped in the film. To which he replied, “The Kashmiri Pandit Genocide was a terrible tragedy. I did not add that part to the film because I felt it would do injustice to the people, we should make another movie on it. I would also like to dedicate the five awards to them.”

A furious Anupam Kher, who is also a Kashmiri Pandit took to Twitter to express his anger. He tweeted, “While I congratulate Vishal Bhardwaj for National Awards but dedicating them to #KashmiriPandits genocide is such a fraudish thing to do. When was last time Vishal Bhardwaj spoke about d plight of #KashmiriPandits? He in fact humiliated us by doing dance of devil at our temple.” (sic)

‘Haider’ brought to light the insurgency issues in Kashmir as an adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous ‘Hamlet’.