‘Prove research in ‘Kashmir Files’ wrong’: Vivek Agnihotri and Anurag Kashyap wage

Indian filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Vivek Agnihotri have been waging a Twitter war after the latter targetted the former over an opinion on some specific films. Agnihotri had shared a screenshot of a headline involving Kashyap, which suggested that Kashyap believes films like ‘Kantara’ and ‘Pushpa’ are destroying the industry. While sharing on Twitter, ‘The Kashmir Files’ director wrote, “I totally totally totally disagree with the views of Bollywood’s one & only Milord. Do you agree?”

Kashyap took exception to the tweet and gave a stinging response. He said, “Sir aapki galti nahin hai, aap ki filmon ki research bhi aisi hi hoti hai jaise aapki mere conversations pe tweet hai. Aapka aur aapki media ka bhi same haal hai. Koi nahin next time thoda serious research kar lena. (Sir, it’s not your fault. The research in your films is identitcal to this tweet on my conversation. Your condition and that of your media is the same. Next time do some serious research).”

The headline Agnihotri shared was from a round table interview between Kashyap and The Galatta Plus. Kashyap was saying that Marathi cinema wanted to replicate the success of ‘Sairat’ and instead of trying to come up with fresh ideas, began copying the formula. 

“With pan-India what is happening right now is that everybody is trying to do that. But the success will be 5 to 10 per cent. A movie like Kantara and Pushpa gives you courage to go out and tell your story,” he said.

“But KGF 2, whatever big the success, when you try to emulate that and set a project up, that’s when it starts heading for a disaster. This is a bandwagon that Bollywood destroyed itself on. So you have to find films that give you courage,” he added.

Not to be cowed down, Agnihotri responded, “Bholenath, aap lage haath sabit kar hi do ki #TheKashmirFiles ka 4 saal ka research sab jhooth tha. Girija Tikoo, BK Ganju, Airforce killing, Nadimarg sab jhooth tha. 700 Panditon ke video sab jhooth the. Hindu kabhi mare hi nahin. Aap prove kar do, DOBAARA aisi galti nahin hogi.”

‘The Kashmir Files’, co-written by Agnihotri and Saurabh M. Pandey, was based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir valley starting from early 1990s post a Pakistan-backed insurgency against the Indian state. Starring Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi, the film divided critics and audiences. While some called it a much-needed account of a topic often not part of the discourse surrounding the Kashmir issue, some others called it blatant propaganda against Kashmiri Muslims supported, if not backed, by the ruling party.

The film became a bone of contention recently when Israeli filmmaker and jury head at International Film Festival of India Nadav Lapid called it vulgar propaganda. It had been a humongous hit, grossing Rs 252.90 crore ($30 million approx).