Published: July 1, 2023 5:41 PM IST Sitting on a comfortable couch in the lobby of his suite, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri asks my team to hurry up. ‘Open this entire window and let the sunlight come in. Do not switch on your light. It will overexpose the frame,’ he assists the cameraperson and quickly gets into the groove of talking cinema, success, life, and politics. He constantly looks at his watch because he is getting late to catch his flight back home. He has 10 minutes and we begin.
I feel satisfied. I am not the person who would feel proud. There is a sense of satisfaction that you achieved the goal you set out to achieve. Not just India, but the world got to know about the genocide (Kashmiri Pandit genocide). The most satisfactory thing is to see people telling me that they are now being healed. The real-life people on whom the characters were based, those who were affected by the genocide, reached out to tell me that it was after the film that they began to heal. Kashmiri people telling me that they are now on their way to heal themselves, that is very satisfying.
So many young people meet me including students who tell me that it was through the film that they got to realise why was Kashmir so important. People who used to say ‘hatao Kashmir, nikal ke fek do. Kya milega hume isce‘, are now saying ‘hum mar jayege par Kashmir ko alag nahi hone dege‘. That’s a matter of satisfaction.
If people think that ‘The Vaccine War‘ is going to be another ‘The Kashmir Files’, then that’s a wrong expectation. Every subject has its own value. I don’t make films to achieve this sense of greatness that if my previous film was a big hit, let’s make our next an even bigger hit. I don’t get into making big films. What we decided to do after ‘The Kashmir Files‘ was to bring a happy film to the audience, something that can make Indians feel proud of themselves. I wanted the younger generation to feel proud of our scientists, especially our women scientists who are hardly ever spoken about. And this is probably one of the biggest achievements seen by India. We made the first indigenous vaccine in the world. No other country in the world made a vaccine that was indigenous, it was always a few countries teaming up together. We made the fastest and safest vaccine. This led India to become one of the most important parts of medical research and development in the world.
But, there were many who didn’t want India to achieve the feat. There were all kinds of efforts made to stop India from becoming an important voice in the medical field. Several lobbies came into action both in India and outside India to stop our team from making that vaccine. Our film is a very well-researched film. We would show you the life inside those laboratories, and the sacrifice of our women. This is also a take on the Westernised idea of women empowerment where many believe that Indian women are not empowered enough only because they cook at home and prepare meals for their families. Indian women are not vanity conscious and they know how to balance their personal and professional lives well. Vo kehte hain ki ye ghar ka kaam karti hain, pati ke liye parathe banati hai, bacho ko dekhti hai, ye empowered nahi hai. We would show them that Indian women are the most empowered in the whole wide world. This is an unusual film and it will leave you with moist eyes.
We have made a film even smaller than ‘The Kashmir Files’. I believe that sometimes, success gets to your head. So, it’s always good to keep going back to your roots. I said let’s make a film full of struggle. We invested everything that we have earned after the success of ‘The Kashmir Files’ into making ‘The Vaccine War’. If this film didn’t do well, we will all be on the road. And honestly, I like to live like that. I don’t want to pressurise myself with all the success. I am here to tell powerful stories and that’s what we are doing with ‘The Vaccine War’.
I was always successful. Even when I was a kid. I believe I get up in the morning and breathe in the fresh air – that’s success for me. Who would know it better than you?
A man’s biggest success is to stay alive. The second biggest success is to live with respect and the third biggest success is to live with people who love you and believe in you. There has to be a purpose in your life to push you to get up every morning and go out. I have all of these things in life. I am successful. Money is a mere piece of paper, I am not fond of cars. I don’t shop a lot. You will always see me wearing these simple clothes. But, I feel glad that I am in a position today, because of ‘The Kashmir Files‘, that I can empower others, especially young people to make films like this.
Yes, it is the right time. I am making an epic tale of Dharma very soon. I am working on it. It’s going to be the biggest Indian film on the religion. I can’t talk about it in detail but I will announce it very soon. I am busy with ‘The Vaccine War’ right now but it is going to happen.
I want to make a film about our goddesses. Our goddesses are very unique. Look at our Kaali Maa and Saraswati Maa – they are simply fascinating. India is the only country where even our nation is considered a goddess – Bharat Maa. I want to use the same symbolism in my films. And I am so excited about doing this that probably in ‘Delhi Files‘, you would see a reference to Kaali Maa in a human form. I am definitely on it. ‘The Delhi Files’ is, in fact, my tribute to our Goddesses.
I don’t think it should upset anyone. Tell me why would a film made on the Kashmiri Pandit genocide upset anyone? It is about a human tragedy.
Yes, it did. But, you see my film ‘The Vaccine War’ is a positive story. It celebrates Indian scientists. People start searching for negativity even in that. They keep writing to me that I shouldn’t be making these films. This is when nobody really knows what are we actually making. I had just announced Delhi files and even before that, Mamata Banerjee, who’s a Chief Minister, started objecting to my film saying it shouldn’t be made. People say all sorts of things but as the saying goes ‘haathi chale bazaar, kutte bhonke hazaar‘ (if you are a person who seeks success, don’t care about people wishing you evil).”
Thank you.
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