Vivek Agnihotri, known for films like Hate Story, Zid, The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files, recently shared his opinion on fellow directors Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Sandeep Reddy Vanga. While Vivek mostly delivers controversial statements, this time he chose to praise them. He even defended Sandeep’s toxic masculinity in his films Kabir Singh and Animal, claiming the director is showing the society’s truth.
In an interview with Humans of Bombay, Vivek Agnihotri was all praises for Karan Johar. He shared, “I really want to praise Karan Johar because he changed the commerciability of commercial cinema. He took it to a different scale. And just like how I am the brand ambassador of my films, he is the ambassador of his films. He is the face of Dharma Productions. Earlier, he used to be introduced as a fashion diva and anchor. But, he is a personality to look up to. Secondly, he took his father’s business from a boutique production house to a mass production house. He has also given breaks to several talented film directors–Ayan Mukerji, Shashank Khaitan. He has also given break to several stars and star kids. He has created shows for television and OTT. He even changed the scale of award shows by being an anchor. He has done a lot of great things.”
Speaking about Anurag Kashyap, the filmmaker stated that The Gangs of Wasseypur director reignited the fire of independent cinema. “Before him, it was Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani and Prakash Jha. But, they too turned into commercial directors. But, Anurag has fought a war and he has given break to several small town boys and girls. He has instilled confidence in people whose war was with English. Today, they believe even they are capable of doing something in life. Several talented people have come from Anurag–both filmmakers, and actors. Despite all these achievements, I personally believe he has not exploited his full potential. Maybe due to his own complexities, he is yet to exploit his full potential. He took a flight, up and quick, and then there was no conclusion to that. He couldn’t take his own success to a logical conclusion.”
He even shared his opinion about controversial filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga who with just three films in his career stole the limelight–but for all the wrong reasons.
Calling him his alter ego, Vivek Agnihotri shared, “Sandeep Reddy Vanga is more like my alter ego in the industry. Just like me he speaks fearlessly. People question Sandeep Reddy Vanga for toxic masculinity, but what is really happening in the society? Isn’t it the truth? Does your society respect women? It is just his storytelling. He is showing the world to the people from his point of view.”
He further explained, “Many asked me ‘Why did you not show the film from the other point of view?’ How can I do that? Why will I show the film from a terrorist’s point of view? And how will I even make an attempt at it when I don’t even know how they see the world? Even Shekhar Kapur was questioned when he made Bandit Queen from Phoolan Devi’s perspective. But, over a period of time, people realised that Bandit Queen was right. After Pahalgam attack, people realised Kashmir Files was right. I am not claiming that I believe in Vanga. I am just saying he has the right to tell stories from his point of view. People who are abusing him, are also using their right. But, at the end of the day, he is laughing looking at his bank.”
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As his closing statement, Vivek shared that people don’t have problem with Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s content but his success. “If his movies will fail, nobody will have an issue. They are having an issue, because it is working for him.”
