Vivek Agnihotri

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (born 10 November)[1] is an Indian film director, screenwriter and author who works in Hindi cinema. As of 2022, he is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification[2] and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.[3] He won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay - Dialogues for The Tashkent Files (2019). Agnihotri started his career with advertorial agencies and moved to producing and directing tele-serials. He debuted in Bollywood with the crime thriller Chocolate (2005) and has directed multiple films since.

Vivek Agnihotri
Agnihotri in 2019
Born10 November
NationalityIndian
EducationIndian Institute of Mass Communication
Occupation
  • Film director
  • screenwriter
  • author
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1997)​
Children2
Websitevivekagnihotri.com

Early life and education

Agnihotri was born in Tilhar, Uttar Pradesh[4][5] He studied at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication before enrolling at Harvard Extension School for a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management.[6][7][lower-alpha 1] In interviews with media, he has also mentioned Bhopal School of Social Sciences and Jawaharlal Nehru University among his almae matres.[9][10]

Career

Advertising and television serials

Agnihotri started his career with the advertising agencies Ogilvy and McCann, and served as creative director for campaigns of Gillette and Coca-Cola.[6][7] In 1994, he became involved with the directing and production of several television serials; his work was positively received.[6][7][11][12][13] In 2018, Agnihotri claimed that had received threats for using the name Mohammad in his short film Mohammad and Urvashi.[14][15]

Filmography

Agnihotri debuted in Bollywood with Chocolate (2005), a remake of the 1995 Hollywood neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects. Critical reception of the movie was negative,[16][17] and the film fared poorly at box office.[18][19] In 2018, Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta would accuse Agnihotri of inappropriate behaviour during its filming. He allegedly asked her to strip and dance to give expression cues to her male co-star Irrfan Khan during a close-up shot and retreated only after Irrfan and Suniel Shetty rebuffed him. Agnihotri denied the allegations as "false and frivolous", and filed a defamation case against Dutta.[20][21] Sattyajit Gazmer, the film's assistant director, also disputed Tanushree's allegations.[22][23][24]

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal is about an all-Asian football team in the United Kingdom that wins trophies while fighting on-field discrimination and the local municipality that wants to sell the team's ground.[25][26] It received poor reception from critics[27] and did "average" business at the box office.[28][29][19] Hate Story received mixed critical reception[30] and fared moderately at the box office.[31] Buddha in a Traffic Jam featured his wife Pallavi[32] and premiered at Mumbai International Film Festival in 2014;[33] it was received unfavourably by critics[34] and severely under-performed at the box office.[35][36] Junooniyat was also subject to poor reviews[37] and fared similarly.[38]

Agnihotri's 2014 erotic thriller Zid received poor reviews[39] but did average business at the box office.[40] However, Agnihotri has since claimed that credit for direction and screenplay was wrongly attributed to him, and that he was not involved with the film.[41] The Tashkent Files received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics but became a sleeper box-office hit and won National Film Awards.[42][43] In March 2022, Agnihotri released The Kashmir Files on the Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus; the film has become a blockbuster hit.[44][45][46] Shortly after the release of the film, he was provided Y-category security detail across the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs based on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau.[47]

Film certification

In 2017, Agnihotri was selected as convenor by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the preview committee of 48th International Film Festival of India.[48] The same year, he was selected as member on board of India's Central Board of Film Certification.[49][50]

ICCR

On 15 September 2020, Agnihotri was appointed as cultural representative at Indian Council for Cultural Relations.[51] He would represent Indian Cinema at ICCR.[52]

Urban Naxals

In 2018, Agnihotri wrote Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam,[53][54][55] in which he described individuals in academia and media who were allegedly colluding with Naxalites in a bid to overthrow the Indian government and were thus "invisible enemies of India" as "Urban Naxals".[56][57]

Critics said the term is "vague rhetoric" that is designed to discredit intellectuals who are critical of the establishment and political right and to stifle dissent.[58][59] Reviews in the Organiser and The New Indian Express had praised the work.[57] The Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani endorsed Agnihotri's views of Jadavpur University and Jawaharlal Nehru University for having refused to screen Buddha in a Traffic Jam.[60]

Personal life

Agnihotri married Indian actress Pallavi Joshi in 1997 and has two children.[61] He has described himself as a supporter of Narendra Modi, but not of the Bharatiya Janata Party that Modi belongs to.[62]

Social media
Agnihotri at the 67th National Film Awards ceremony in New Delhi on October 25, 2021.

Fact checkers have noted Agnihotri to have shared misleading content from his Twitter account.[63][64] In September 2018, Twitter locked his account until he agreed to delete a tweet denigrating Swara Bhaskar. In response to Swara calling out politician P. C. George, who called an alleged rape victim a prostitute, Vivek tweeted "Where is the placard - '#MeTooProstituteNun'?". The tweet was interpreted as calling Swara a prostitute. Agnihotri defended his tweet and said he was making a point about the placarding by liberals at selective instances of alleged perpetrators belonging to the Hindu community.[65]

Filmography
List of films produced, directed and written
Year Title Producer Director Screen writer
2005 Chocolate Y Y
2007 Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal Y
2012 Hate Story Y
2014 Zid Y Y
2016 Buddha in a Traffic Jam Y Y Y
Junooniyat Y Y
2019 The Tashkent Files Y Y Y
2022 The Kashmir Files Y Y Y

Bibliography
  • Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam. Garuda Prakashan. 2018. ISBN 9781942426059.
  • Who Killed Shastri?: The Tashkent Files. Bloomsbury India. 2020. ISBN 9789388630610.

Accolades
Agnihotri at the 67th National Film Awards ceremony in New Delhi on October 25, 2021.

Notes
  1. CSS was started in 1980 as a certificate course for students with a bachelor's degree but no prior training in business or management.[8]: 130  In 2007 it was converted into a full Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies (ALM) in management.[8]: 200 

References
  1. "Official Twitter Handle of Vivek Agnihotri". Twitter. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  2. "List of Board Members". www.cbfcindia.gov.in. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  3. "Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri gets appointed as new cultural representative at Indian Council for Cultural Relations". DNA India. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  4. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri [@vivekagnihotri] (2 January 2018). "Sometime ago, on a flight I saw a great Dalit leader's grandson sitting on 1A, business class and I wrote this in notes. Just found. t.co/NaEW2bGnkC" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022 – via Twitter.
  5. "Agnihotri's 'dalit-brahmin' tweet sparks Twitter outrage". theweek.in. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  6. ""Terrorism interests and fascinates me":Vivek Agnihotri". Indian Television Dot Com. 2 January 2002. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  7. "About". Vivek Agnihotri. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  8. Shinagel, Michael (2009). "The Gates Unbarred": A History of University Extension at Harvard, 1910-2009. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03616-1.
  9. Nationalist Ravi (16 June 2016). "Risk it with Ravijot - Talk 01, Vivek Agnihotri". Archived from the original on 18 June 2016 – via YouTube.
  10. Modi, Chintan Girish (8 April 2016). "The contrarian Kanhaiya Kumar". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  11. "'How soon the viewer flows into the story determines my success' : Vivek Agnihotri". Indian Television Dot Com. 6 June 2001. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  12. "The chocolate lawyer". The Hindu. 19 September 2005. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  13. "One... gearing up to two!". The Hindu. 14 November 2005. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  14. IANS (14 April 2018). "Vivek Agnihotri's 'Mohammad and Urvashi' to release on April 24". Business Standard India. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  15. "Vivek Agnihotri claims getting threats over 'Mohammad And Urvashi'". The Statesman. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  16. "Jaspreet Pandohar review of Chocolate (Deep Dark Secrets) (2005)". BBC. 11 September 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  17. "Shoplifted and shopworn". The Hindu. 23 September 2005. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  18. "Chocolate - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  19. Dundoo, Sangeetha Devi (28 February 2011). "Business meets Bollywood". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  20. Sources covering the episode:
  21. Starkey, Jesse C.; Koerber, Amy; Sternadori, Miglena; Pitchford, Bethany (1 October 2019). "#MeToo Goes Global: Media Framing of Silence Breakers in Four National Settings". Journal of Communication Inquiry. 43 (4): 437–461. doi:10.1177/0196859919865254. ISSN 0196-8599.
  22. "Assistant director turns down Tanushree Dutta's claims, gives detailed account of the incident on sets of Chocolate". Hindustan Times. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  23. Hungama, Bollywood (6 October 2018). "Tanushree Dutta controversy: Chocolate's associate director Ranjit Shah comes in support of Vivek Agnihotri, SLAMS the actress and calls her erratic : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama". Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  24. "Not strip, but take off bathrobe worn above costume: 'Chocolate' Associate Director Sattyajit Gazmer on Tanushree Dutta's allegations". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  25. Glynn, Stephen (3 May 2018). The British Football Film. Springer. p. 137. ISBN 9783319777276.
  26. Krämer, Lucia (2 June 2016). Bollywood in Britain: Cinema, Brand, Discursive Complex. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. pp. 74–78. ISBN 9781501307584.
  27. Reviews of Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal:
  28. "Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  29. Business Today. Vol. 17. Living Media India Limited. 2008. p. 60.
  30. Reviews of Hate Story:
  31. "Hate Story - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  32. "Jamming away". The Hindu. 7 April 2011. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  33. Thakkar, Mehul S. (10 April 2016). "Barjatyas bails Vivek Agnihotri's 'Buddha' out of a 'Jam'". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  34. Reviews of Buddha in a Traffic Jam:
  35. "Arunoday Singh: I don't consider myself any less successful right now". Hindustan Times. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  36. "Buddha In A Traffic Jam - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  37. Reviews of Junooniyat:
  38. "Junooniyat - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  39. Reviews of Zid:
  40. "Zid - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  41. Sources which say he disassociated with film:
  42. "Bhakt Vivek Agnihotri's stars". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  43. Reviews of The Tashkent Files:
  44. "Bollywood Turns To Plight Of Kashmiri Pandits, At Last". Outlook India. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  45. "Vivek Agnihotri film The Kashmir Files to release in August 2020: Not an easy story to tell". India Today. Indo Asian News Service. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  46. "After 'The Tashkent Files', Vivek Agnihotri's next titled 'The Kashmir Files' starring Anupam Kher". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  47. "Kashmir Files director gets Y-category security cover". The Indian Express. 19 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  48. "Forty-Member Panel to Curate Films for IFFI With Agnihotri As Convenor". The Wire. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  49. "Pahlaj Nihalani replaced by Prasoon Joshi: Vidya Balan, Vivek Agnihotri in CBFC Board; meet all new members". The Financial Express. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  50. Scroll Staff. "Pahlaj Nihalani removed as chief of Central Board of Film Certification". Scroll.in. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  51. "Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri gets appointed as new cultural representative at Indian Council for Cultural Relations". DNA India. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  52. ANI. "Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri appointed as new cultural representative at ICCR". BW Businessworld. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  53. IANS (15 June 2018). "Not easy to attract eyeballs from government: Vivek Agnihotri". Business Standard India. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  54. "Vivek Agnihotri's Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam | Going beyond the Maoist myth". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  55. "Urban Naxals - The Making of Buddha In A Traffic Jam". Indic Today. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  56. "He's making a list of 'Urban Naxals', but who is Vivek Agnihotri?". ThePrint. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  57. @eOrganiser (6 June 2018). "Book Review #UrbanNaxals : The Untold Story of Communist Terrorism" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  58. Coverage and commentary on the term in mainstream media:
  59. Coverage and commentary on the term in scholarly sources:
  60. Singh, Vivashwan (5 June 2015). "'Ghoul' and the Spectre of Totalitarianism". Economic and Political Weekly. 53 (42): 7–8.
  61. "'Didn't Like Him Very Much on First Meet': Pallavi Joshi on Husband Vivek Agnihotri". News18. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  62. "भाजपा का नहीं, बल्कि घोर मोदी समर्थक हूं: विवेक अग्निहोत्री" [I'm not a supporter of the BJP, but a strong Modi supporter: Vivek Agnihotri]. Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  63. Sources which say Agnihotri shared misleading content
  64. Chowdhury, Archis (10 January 2020). "Vivek Agnihotri Posts A Doctored Image Of Anti-CAA Protester". www.boomlive.in. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  65. Sources covering the episode:
  66. "Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri on National Film Award for best dialogue writer: At least now nobody will question my capabilities". Hindustan Times. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  67. Service, Tribune News. "'Buddha' back from 'traffic jam". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
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