New Delhi: A day after the release of ‘The Kerala Story’, Vivek Agnihotri conveyed the ‘bad news’ to the controversial film’s team.
Addressing the film’s producer Vipul Shah, director Sudipto Sen and actress Adah Sharma, ‘The Kashmir Files’ director wrote a long note on Twitter in which he warned them that that their lives will no longer be the same as they will receive ‘unimaginable hate, feel suffocated, get confused and demoralised’.
“…Team of #TheKeralaStory, first let me congratulate you for the brave effort. At the same time, let me also give you the bad news that from here on, your lives will not be the same. You will receive unimaginable hate. Your will feel suffocated. Many times you may get confused and demoralised,” Agnihotri wrote.
“CINEMA AND INDIC RENNIASANCE: The Kerala Story. I grew up listening to great filmmakers and cinema critics that the only purpose of art is to provoke people into questioning their own beliefs and biases. I also grew up listening that cinema reflects the reality of a society. I was told that cinema must destroy old Gods and create new Gods,” Agnihotri said.
He went on to narrate from his own experience that making such cinema in India is not easy.
“I have come to realise that in modern times cinema has the power to do what media and politics can’t do. It can present uncomfortable reality, correct history, fight culture war and also become the soft power of a nation for larger interest. In India, making such cinema is not easy. I tried it with Buddha in A Traffic Jam, The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. I have been physically, professionally, socially and psychologically assaulted.”
He also talked about his upcoming film too, and how that’s being attacked also.
“Even my forthcoming film The Vaccine War, a positive film, celebrating India’s greatest achievement, is constantly being attacked. Mostly by the same people who taught me all the above. When it releases, later this year, I can guarantee they will attack it with a new design because they don’t want India to succeed. Because Truth must not be told. Bharat must not be celebrated,” the filmmaker added.
‘The Kerala Story’, which is about a group of women who are converted to Islam and join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has faced massive resistance and barred from being screened at several places despite the Kerala High Court declining a stay to screen the movie.
Also Read: Controversy: ‘The Kerala Story’ Producer Agrees To Remove Teaser; Know Why
