The Kashmir Files is not 'Govt Funded' or 'Islamophobic': Vivek Agnihotri defends his film
07 May 2022 17:53:44
New Delhi, May 7: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri said that a section of foreign media was trying to run an “international political campaign" against his film “The Kashmir Files" that resulted in the Foreign Correspondents Club and Press Club of India (PCI) cancelling his press conference recently.
The aim behind this press conference was to “debunk" allegations levelled against the film, said Agnihotri.
Calling out allegations, Agnihotri said, “Most of our crew was Muslim. In Kashmir, 100 percent of our crew was Muslim. One of the most important scenes in the film where the protagonist of the film interacts with a boy in Shikara, I had requested a Kashmiri Muslim activist from Kashmir Valley to write that scene. I said that you must have representation. We made sure that scene was enacted by a Kashmiri Muslim activist boy in Kashmir. It’s embarrassing that I have to come and say all these things but I want to expose these people who use Islamophobia as a political weapon against us."
"When the prime minister spoke about it in a different context, suddenly it became a government-funded film,” Agnihotri said.
In another press conference that took place in New Delhi, Agnihotri claimed that soon after his film became a historical success, foreign media publications realised that it was “denting their narrative".
“Every major player, who maligns India’s image internationally without checking the truth, started calling me and their line of the question was only Hindu-Muslim. Nobody, not even one bothered to ask me about all those victims who I interviewed for this movie. Not even one tried to ask me about the facts I’ve shown in the movie and whether they are right or wrong," Agnihotri said.
The aim behind this press conference was to “debunk" allegations levelled against the film, said Agnihotri.
Calling out allegations, Agnihotri said, “Most of our crew was Muslim. In Kashmir, 100 percent of our crew was Muslim. One of the most important scenes in the film where the protagonist of the film interacts with a boy in Shikara, I had requested a Kashmiri Muslim activist from Kashmir Valley to write that scene. I said that you must have representation. We made sure that scene was enacted by a Kashmiri Muslim activist boy in Kashmir. It’s embarrassing that I have to come and say all these things but I want to expose these people who use Islamophobia as a political weapon against us."
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He continued, “There is an international political campaign against the film. They blame us for Islamophobia. I categorically put on record that Islamophobia is being used as a political weapon against my film under an international political conspiracy. The film is actually anti-terrorism. The film does not use even once the word ‘Muslim’. The film does not use the word Pakistan or Pakistani. It’s an anti-terrorism film."
"When the prime minister spoke about it in a different context, suddenly it became a government-funded film,” Agnihotri said.