Director Vivek Agnihotri has changed the rules of mainstream cinema with his recent films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Tashkent Files’. He takes an unconventional route of filmmaking and raises uncomfortable questions via his films. In a recent interview with us, Vivek admitted experimenting with the art of filmmaking in order to create his own niche and bring freshness to Hindi cinema. He said, “When Buddha In A Traffic Jam came, a whole lot of people in the industry laughed at it. They ridiculed me and wrote very ugly and nasty things about me. This included people who were very close friends of ours for many many years. And when The Tashkent Files came, then the entire critic lobby worked against me. Then they started resisting the film. And this time also, they assumed that this film is going to be bad. But The Kashmir Files started connecting with people and I am happy that people are noticing that from Buddha In A Traffic Jam, I have been breaking every single rule of cinema. Not just Bollywood but Hollywood also. And that is the exact reaction from Hollywood people also. They are saying, ‘What kind of film is this, which has no humour, no relief?’ And if you see my three films, there is no relief to even breathe. So, I like experimenting like that.”
Vivek had earlier admitted that he didn’t write a script or dialogues for his film ‘The Kashmir Files’. He had revealed that every event and emotion has happened in reality and he has documented everything while interviewing first-generation victims of the Kashmir genocide. During the interview, he revealed that a scene in the film is written by a local Kashmiri Muslim boy. Vivek said, “People don’t know that in a scene in The Kashmir Files, the most important scene where these two people sit on a Shikara, the boy goes and says, ‘Konsa jaanwar hai jisko sab khana chaahte hain?’, that I asked a Kashmiri Muslim boy in Kashmir valley to write for me. I said, ‘whatever is your point of view, whatever you think about this problem, just write it down and we will shoot as is! And his closest friend and colleague acted in it. So, we do experiment like this.”
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He added, “People don’t understand that I am destroying the system of bigness. Some stories are meant to be told simply. A lot of stars are expecting me to call them. In fact, some people have not liked that I have not approached them till now. But they are not realising that I am breaking that bloody system. It really saddens me. It hurts me.”
Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’ was released in theatres on 11th March. It features Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi and Darshan Kumaar.