The famous picture Kashimr Files director Vivek Agnihotri opens up on Filmfare Awards and its corrupt system. The director wrote a note on Twitter in response to a tweet about the Filmfare Awards. The director mentioned that he found out from media sources that his film The Kashmir Files was nominated in seven categories.
He added that he politely refused to be a part of these unethical and anti-cinema awards. The director wrote that, according to Filmfare, nobody has a face other than the stars. He mentioned how the directors, like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Suraj Barjatya, and Annes Bajmi, all look like Alia Bhatt, Mr Bachchan, and Kartik Aryan respectively.
He added, “This humiliating system must be ended. Therefore, in my protest and dissent against this unethical and corrupt sycophant establishment of Bollywood, I would not accept any such awards.” The director accused the industry of corruption which treats writers, directors, other HODs, and crew members of a film as inferior to or as slaves to stars.
The director also congratulated all those who win and showed support to those who don’t. He further added that he is not alone, and a parallel Hindi Film Industry is emerging. The director wrote a few lines of Dushyant Kumar’s poem and added the hashtag #HumDekhenge.
This is not the first time someone has accused Bollywood of corruption and partiality. Many people from the industry earlier spoke about the same. Since the actor Sushant Singh Rajput had committed suicide, many people came up to speak about the dirty politics in Bollywood. Also, the #BoycottBollywood trend has shaken Bollywood since then.
The director Vivek Agnihotri’s film The Kashmir File was nominated in seven categories, including Best Director for the 68th Filmfare Awards. The directors’ polite boycott of the award show has put the spotlight on issues like corruption and partiality within the industry. The director received several responses to his tweet, including the response from self-proclaimed film critic Kamaal R Khan.
The Kashmir Files movie
The movie was released in 2022 and was one of the highest-grossed movies of that year. The film is based on a fictional story representing the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir. The actors, like Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumar, Chinmay Mandlekar, Pallavi Joshi, and Bhasha Sumbli played the lead characters.
Vivek Agnihotri made his directional debut in 2005 with the crime thriller Chocolate. Since then, he has worked on several scripts, including some popular movies like The Tashkent Files, Junooniyat, Hate Story, Zid, etc. The Kashmir Files is one of his highest-grossed movies.
At present, the director is a member of the board of India’s Central Board of Film Certification. Also, he is a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Currently, the director is working on his future project, The Vaccine War, which stars Anupam Kher, Nana Patekar, Sapthami Gowda, and Pallavi Joshi. The movie is scheduled to be released in August 2023.