New Delhi: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has reacted to the comment made by the veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah that the success of films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘Gadar 2’ is disturbing. In a recent interview, Vivek said that the actor perhaps ‘likes to support terrorists’.
In a conversation with Zoom TV, the director was asked about Naseeruddin Shah’s comment and he replied, “I am a great admirer of Naseer sahab that’s why I had cast him in The Tashkent Files. But I don’t know of late why he has grown old and if that’s the case then I should not say anything. Sometimes, people are frustrated with a lot of things, or maybe he feels he is getting exposed with the truth of The Kashmir Files something about him is getting exposed. People generally don’t like being naked in front of people through somebody else’s art. There is something wrong, there is something not right with what Naseer keeps saying.”
“I mean he is happy doing films that support genocide, he has acted in movies that supports genocide, perhaps he has because of his religion or because of his frustration. For whatever reasons, perhaps he likes to support terrorists, I don’t. I don’t even care what Naseer says because I have zero tolerance for terrorism, maybe he loves them, and I don’t care,” he told Zoom TV.
For the unversed, Naseeruddin Shah had said in an interview with the Free Press Journal that the success of a few recent films is disturbing. “Films like Kerala Story and Gadar 2, I haven’t seen them but I know what they are about, it’s disturbing that films like Kashmir Files are so massively popular whereas films made by Sudhir Mishra, Anubhav Sinha, and Hansal Mehta, who are trying to portray the truth of their times don’t get seen. But it’s important that these filmmakers don’t lose heart and continue telling stories.”
While Naseeruddin Shah will next be seen in Vishal Bhardwaj’s web series Charlie Chopra, Vivek Agnihotri is gearing up for the release of his next film ‘The Vaccine War.’
The film is a medical thriller and is based on the true story of the development of Covaxin during Covid-19 pandemic in India. The film features Nana Patekar, Pallavi Joshi, Raima Sen, Anupam Kher, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Sapthami Gowda, and Mohan Kapur. The film is scheduled to be theatrically released on September 28, 2023.