‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri, who is known for sharing his views unabashedly, has taken an indirect dig at Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan through his tweet. He blamed all the ‘Kings, Badshahs, Sultans’ for sinking of Bollywood.
Replying to an article with the headline, “Why Shah Rukh Khan is still king of Bollywood,” the filmmaker tweeted, “As long as Bollywood has Kings, Badshahs, Sultans, it will keep sinking. Make it people’s industry with people’s stories, it will lead the global film industry. #FACT.”
Vivek’s film ‘The Kashmir Files’, featuring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Darshan Kumar, was an unprecedented success and was one of the most talked-about films of recent times. The Kashmir Files is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus in the valley in the 1990s. The film was appreciated by many while it received an equal amount of criticism from certain quarters.
Vivek’s next project is ‘The Delhi Files’ which is reportedly based on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Announcing the project, he had said earlier, “I thank all the people who owned #TheKashmirFiles. For last 4 yrs we worked very hard with utmost honesty & sincerity. I may have spammed your TL (timeline) but it’s important to make people aware of the GENOCIDE and injustice done to Kashmiri Hindus. It’s time for me to work on a new film.”
In a follow-up tweet, he added, “#TheDelhiFiles.”
After the announcement, a section raised concern on the subject of the film. The Maharashtra Sikh Association had stated, ” it has strong reservation against the exploitation and commercialization of unfortunate tragic chapters of humankind like the Sikh riots by people in the name of creative expression and personal profiteering”.