Vivek Agnihotri considers Alia Bhatt part of his family: ‘I refuse to accept anything negative about her’

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has doled out rare praise for a mainstream Bollywood star. The director has said in an interview with Mid-Day that he appreciates the way Alia Bhatt handles herself with maturity and admires her work. (Also read: The Vaccine War box office collection day 1)

An Alia fan

Vivek shared he was a ‘fan of Alia Bhatt’. “I feel Alia is a part of my family and I always admire her work. I like the way she has matured as an actor in the last few years. She has creative intelligence and that’s why I really like her growth and the way she has conducted herself in public. Whenever there’s a discussion, I refuse to accept anything negative about her. Alia is a great example of how an actor should mature,” he said.

Love for Allu Arjun and Kriti Sanon

Vivek also praised Pushpa actor Allu Arjun. Both Alia and Allu won Best Actor (male and female) National Film awards this year. While Alia won it for Gangubai Kathiwadi, Allu won it for Pushpa. Kriti Sanon, who also shared the Best Actor Female award with Alia for Mimi, also got words of appreciation from Vivek. “Pallavi (Joshi) and I saw her film Mimi and thought she gave a mature and competitive performance,” he said.

The Vaccine War

Vivek’s latest film The Vaccine War released on Thursday in theatres. It is based on Indian scientists who worked night and day to create country’s own vaccine to fight against the coronavirus pandemic. It stars Nana Patekar, Pallavi Joshi and Raima Sen in main roles.

Talking about his movie, he said that his film described how India became self-reliant on vaccines and became the ‘pharmacy of the world’.

“I have focused mostly on India’s victory, how India is becoming a great nation, how India has become self-reliant and how India’s science is ready to show direction to the world. More than that, I also wanted people to understand who your enemies are. If you want to know who are the enemies of India, who is trying to sell India, then now you will get the answer in the vaccine war,” he said as per a PTI report.