Vivek Agnihotri reacts as Ashoke Pandit equates ‘trolling’ of Pathaan with ‘attack on The Kashmir Files’

Director Vivek Agnihotri has reacted after filmmaker Ashoke Pandit said that if the ‘attack on The Kashmir Files was wrong, then the same applies to Pathaan’. Taking to Twitter on Monday, Ashoke also said that if trolling Vivek was right then ‘automatically trolling and stupid comments against Pathaan becomes valid’. (Also Read | The Kashmir Files is ‘garbage’, says screenwriter Saeed Akhtar Mirza)

Ashoke Pandit wrote, “If abusing and trolling @vivekagnihotri was right & hence the entire industry kept quiet, then automatically trolling & stupid comments against #Pathaan become valid. If attack on #KashmirFiles was wrong, then the same applies to #Pathaan. Let’s not be selective with our responses!”

He also tweeted, “Our silence at certain moments because it suits an agenda makes our enemies stronger. I stood by all those films like #UdtaPunjab & #Padmaavat which were abused by fundamentalists, but saw no support by the industry. Enemies have misused this division between different camps.” Quote tweeting the post, Vivek commented, “Hmmmmm…”

Recently, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s upcoming film Pathaan was at the centre of a controversy over its new song Besharam Rang. After the first track from the film was unveiled, several politicians and a section of the people raised objections to the song. The track was criticised over the choice of outfits and colours worn by Deepika Padukone in some of the song sequences.

Last month, Ashoke had reacted after Israeli director Nadav Lapid had called Vivek’s film The Kashmir Files a “propaganda movie” and “vulgar” at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). “You selected him without a background check. I am demanding a probe into as to how he was selected as chairperson of the jury. Who are the officers in the information and broadcasting ministry who were involved in this process. Let the probe uncover them,” Ashoke had been quoted by news agency PTI.

The Kashmir Files shows the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s. The Kashmir Files stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, and Darshan Kumaar among others. The film, which released in March this year in theatres, is one of the most commercially successful Hindi films of the year.