New Bollywood film compares romantic relationship to the Holocaust 

“Bawaal”, a new Bollywood romantic comedy available on Amazon Prime, is under fire for making multiple comparisons between a romantic relationship and the Holocaust. 

According to the film’s synopsis, the film follows Ajay Dixit, a history teacher in India, navigating his “strained relationship with his newly-wed wife” while on a trip in Europe. 

Throughout the film, the Holocaust is used as a point of comparison for the couple’s relationship. 

At one point, the couple is told that “every relationship goes through its Auschwitz”. 

During another scene, Ajay says to his wife: “We’re all a little like Hitler, aren’t we?”

There are also scenes filmed at Auschwitz concentration camp. 

In one scene, the couple is trapped in a gas chamber, with what appears to be victims of the Holocaust, wearing striped clothing and being suffocated with pesticides. 

Varun Dhawan, who plays Ajay, said of his visit to the concentration camp that he “couldn’t bear to see the shoes and other belongings of the children there”.  

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Holocaust saw the systematic genocide of six million Jewish men, women and children. Its use as a cheap prop is sickening. This film has rightfully been criticised for its vapid imagery of the Auschwitz death camp. The writers, producers, funders and everyone responsible for bringing this to our screens should be utterly ashamed.”