Anupam Kher
Posted on 06/18/2010 10:14:37 AM PDT by James C. Bennett
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Protests by India's small Jewish community have prompted a leading actor to pull out of a film on the last days of Adolf Hitler , a rare subject for a movie in the Bollywood film industry.
Anupam Kher, who was supposed to play the role of Hitler, told Reuters he had decided to withdraw from the film after an outpouring of messages on social networking sites and protests.
"Considering the ill-will that the project is generating among my fans, I wish to withdraw from it as I respect their sentiments," Kher said in a statement released to Reuters.
"Dear Friend Hitler" aims to give audiences a glimpse into Hitler's "insecurities, his charisma, his paranoia and his sheer genius," according to a statement on the film which will go on floors next month.
"I have never been moved by commercial considerations, but I have always respected social opinions," Kher said.
"Whoever is making this film is doing so with ignorant, if not more sinister motives ... they are hurting the feelings of a community that has suffered a great deal," Jonathan Solomon, the chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, told Reuters.
In 2006, a small restaurant in Mumbai was forced to change its name from "Hitler's Cross" to "Cross Cafe" after strong protests.
A year later, the Jewish community staged strong protests, again in Mumbai against a home furnishing maker that named its new line of bedspreads "NAZI" and used the swastika in its promotional brochure.
"Those who are protesting against the film have got it wrong," said Rakesh Ranjan Kumar, the director.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Yeah he was a genius, he almost took over the entire European continent. That being said, he was still an asshole and needed killin.
Anupam Kher
I'm almost sorry this isn't getting made. Almost.
"They lose me right after the bunker scene."
Indians and the people of most most colonial states have this love-hate affair with authoritarian leaders because they were led out of colonialism in the post WWII era by such leaders. Be it Jinnah, Nehru or the leaders of Indonesia, Taiwan, Phillipines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, the Koreas, and even Japan.
I actually don’t think Gandhi or Nehru had much to do with India’s independence.
Britain was in utter ruin after WW-2, and in no shape to handle its largest overseas territory. Nehru was a subscriber to the Fabian Society movement, from his years as a student in England.
Perhaps Sukhoi-30mki and Cronos can elaborate on all this.
They’ll never top “Downfall”.
Hitler was a brilliant con artist like Charles Manson in that he was successfull at getting others to do his dirty work. Hitler and Manson were both brilliant manipulators.
Exactly. Best movie ever made about the final days in the bunker. Bruno Ganz was VERY believable!
I am one of the few folks that I know who actually saw “Downfall” in the theatres. It is, to date, the ONLY movie about Hitler worth watching. Ganz is incredible, as was the supporting cast.
Bttt.
I have only seen that one scene. Over, and over, and over.
Never fails to get a laugh.
I’ve watched it, too.
Undoubtedly, it’s one of the best movies ever made about Hitler.
Regardless of Britain’s status as an economic power, the authoritarian “cult of the individual” had and continues to have a strong pull in the psyche of colonial peoples. Nehru was schooled in British socialism
Indira Gandhi would make for a better example of that, although she did get voted out when limits were transgressed.
The cult of the individual isn’t limited to just colonial people (btw, what exactly is a “colonial people” — as technically, every country has been a colony at one point or the other, except Thailand and Japan)
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