Vivek Agnihotri has, several time, opened up about the current state of affairs in Bollywood. The director, who has The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files to his credit, had taken a dig at Karan Johar, Ayan Mukerji, Ranveer Singh and even Aamir Khan in a recent interview. But, it was Javed Akhtar who Vivek Agnihotri revers and spoke highly of.
In a live with The Cārvāka Podcast, Vivek Agnihotri said, “Even a man like Javed Akhtar, the bhajans he wrote for Lagaan were pure Hindi. ‘Madhuban mein Radha.’ there is not a single Urdu word in it. Because these were well-read, intelligent people who were tied to the roots of India. He may be a communist, he may fight against the right-wing, it doesn’t matter.”
He continued and said, “All of Javed Akhtar’s heroes, all of them were either a labourer’s son, a teacher’s son and he would fight a dacoit or a mill owner or a zamindar. He would fight a corrupt police inspector or corrupt MLA. In which movie of recent times would you find MLAs, MPs, Police inspectors, IAS officers as the villains? It’s as if India has no issues at all. The only issues are whether you are sleeping with this person or that person. That’s where they have brought Bollywood.”
Recently, Agnihotri criticised people like Ayan, Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and even Aamir Khan. Talking about Aamir Khan and the failure of Laal Singh Chaddha, he had asked abougt the actor’s loyal fans and why did they not watch the Forrest Gump remake. He also revealed that it only meant the claims that this fan base exists is ‘bogus and fraud’. He also expressed concern for Brahmastra and Ayan Mukerji, claiming the latter can’t even oproperly pronounce the name of his film.
