Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has pointed fingers at the content of recent Bollywood films. He said that the middle-class audience can barely relate to these movies and this is why films are failing to get people to theatres. However, Sudhir Mishra argued that the audience has become ‘lazy’ which is why they are not watching movies in cinema halls.
Agnihotri, in his latest podcast with Mishra, said, “I have been totally boycotted in this industry. I have found my solace in middle-class people. And when I talked to the housewives, they mentioned having issues with this over-exposure and vulgar display of physical attitude. People are irritated because films do not address the real concerns.”
The Kashmir Files director cited the example of Karan Johar’s Student of the Year and asked if the kind of youth shown in the movie is really the youth of the country. “I am saying it without malice, but Student of the Year, and films after that, just see the youth in those films and the youth on the roads of the country, you won’t find the youth shown in the movies. When I watched Deewar, I related to it instantly, I looked at Amitabh Bachchan and felt, ‘Oh I also have this problem.’ But today, there is no relatability. Why are you disrespecting the sensibilities of the audience?” asked Agnihotri.
When Sudhir Mishra said that the audience has also become ‘lazy’, Vivek Agnihotri argued, “Boycott Bollywood is not fake. The audience has not become lazy. I want to understand the films which are being made these days. Who are the audience of these films? Whose concerns are they talking about? Where are we going? Even Manmohan Desai’s films catered to the issues of a middle-class man. But where is the common man in today’s films?”
Agnihotri also said that nobody, besides him and Kangana Ranaut, is questioning the practices of the Hindi film industry. “If the establishment does something wrong, we have the right to question it, at least the intellectuals and liberals should do it. So, the film industry is also an establishment. Those who are questioning the state, should they not first question the establishment from which they are earning a living. So, who has questioned Bollywood besides Kangana and me? And, why should I be othered if I question the practices of the industry?” the filmmaker asked.
Vivek Agnihotri has been quite vocal about his opinion on the film industry on social media. He has also been questioning people who spoke against his film The Kashmir Files.
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