Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has been in the limelight since his film, The Kashmir Files, hit the theatres. Bringing forth the horror and plight of Kashmiri Pandits never happened before, and it shook the entire nation and the world when they saw the film.
Agnihotri has been a staunch supporter of the ruling government. His ideas and representation in the film created a wave of reactions. While the majority was moved by the film, especially the outcaste Kashmiri Pandits, many stood up against it. They claim that the film incites ‘hate’ for a particular community.
Despite all that, Agnihotri has maintained his stand.
In a recent session at Times Delhi Lit Fest, he talked about why The Kashmir Files matters.
“The Kashmiri Pandit Community is scattered all over the world. They are not a consolidated comprehensive vote bank for anybody to care about. I am not blaming the politicians that they are solely responsible for everything. They have their own compulsions. But I have some information that within the next 24 to 36 months, the Government of India will introduce a strong policy for the Kashmiri Pandit Rehabilitation. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll be the first person to stand and protest and go on the streets against it,” Agnihotri said.
Bollywood has been under the spell of boycotts post the mysterious death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Additionally, the trend and tastes of viewers have changed over the pandemic.
”The people who call for boycotts are the same people who have a problem with Vande Bharat Express. They basically have problems with everything,” Agnihotri opined in response to the boycott trends in the nation.
Why Kashmir Files Matter?
Every Kashmiri family told us one common thing, that, ‘no one has heard their story’. Why nobody has heard their story…?: Filmmaker @vivekagnihotri shares the idea behind making ‘The Kashmir Files’ with @RShivshankar
Watch #ConverseIndia at 12 noon. pic.twitter.com/Px8XvzBIxn— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 12, 2023
Vivek Agnihotri on his choice of issues
Agnihotri has been taking up issues like Kashmir, capitalism, socialism, and Shashtri in his films. Many call it misleading and half-truths.
“The journalist in me takes up such topics,” said Agnihotri on asking why he chooses such topics for his movies.
Not many know that Vivek Agnihotri is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, which is directly under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the top-ranking institute in India. He was also a Student Council President and batch mate of Gauri Lankesh.
This year he is set to release a film named The Vaccine War. It depicts the actual inventors of the coronavirus vaccine in India, who were actually primarily women, never spoken for or highlighted before.