The ICHRRF in a press release states, “Thousands of homes and temples were destroyed. Over 400,000 Kashmiri Hindu men, women, and children were forced into exile by Islamic terrorists at gunpoint, ejected from their homes and everything they’ve known. Women were gang-raped, cut into two pieces with a saw and killed in the most brutal manner. Now, this culture is on the brink of extinction after self-advocacy over the course of 32 years, has been unsuccessful. Those who chose to remain in their homeland did so in faith believing in the goodness of their neighbours. The victims and survivors affirmed hope, peace, nonviolence, and safety, and found themselves raped, tortured, and executed by radical Islamic terrorists. Abused corpses were denied cultural funeral traditions and desecrated in psychological warfare to intimidate and control the remaining masses.” Subhash K Jha speaks to Vivek Agnihotri on this. Vivek Agnihotri mentions that he has also got consent for a Genocide Museum in Bhopal. Excerpts:
You are now officially the most influential Indian filmmaker of all times?
If I start thinking that way, I would end negating my mission to keep pushing through the darkness into areas of our history that have been ignored or blacked out for unknown reasons.
The International Commission for Human Rights and Religious Freedom has officially recognized Hindu genocide?
Yes, we are finally talking about it. I have also got consent for a Genocide Museum in Bhopal. So, it looks like I am on the way to achieving what I set out to. But I am not going to sit and feel proud of myself. There is so much more to do. In Bhopal we have also incepted a Rs 20-lakh scholarship for young students, both boys and girls.
In Bhopal you created quite a stir. After the release The Kashmir Files they called you Islamophobic. Now they are calling you homophobic?
For the record, I am neither Islamophobic or homophobic. Those who label me as such are themselves what they accuse me of. I would rather not focus on these silly controversies.
How do you feel about Kashmiri Genocide being recognised for what it was?
Honestly, I won’t allow myself to take any credit. I keep going to milestones. And I keep moving on. Abb yeh ho gaya chalo aage badhte hain. I am the medium. I am just the tool to make this happen. You ask the Kashmiri Pandits, they will tell you Vivek Agnihotri is the medium. I am a spiritual person. I am very different from your average filmmakers. For me cinema is a tool, a medium for social reform. My next film is also about change and I am confident that too will have a big impact.
What according to you ails Indian democracy the most?
Indian democracy is filled with unresolved issues from the biggest to the smallest level. A street is being constructed outside your house; someone stops the work; the street remains half-constructed for years; no one asks why. It is by strategy, by conscious design that I am raising the most complicated burning issues, to shake off the Indian inertia. When there is a tangled issue awaiting a solution for years, you have to use force. I have to raise my tone of protest to a high point so that people are woken from their slumber.
So, this romp into obfuscated history is planned?
I am not a spontaneous person. The Files trilogy was planned. I have a plan for the next five years.
What are your plans now that the International Commission for Human Rights and Religious Freedom has recognized Kashmiri Genocide?
We now plan to go the human rights commission in the United Nations in Geneva. It should happen in the next one month or so. Also, the British parliament has invited me next month. I am going to London next month for this.
How do you react to those who think you are playing the political card by provoking hatred against Muslims?
I am not obliged to be answerable to these misguided elements. See, a mother loves her child. She is not obliged to love every child in her colony. If my issue here is the plight of Kashmiri Pandits it doesn’t mean I have to talk about every other issue that others want me to. I am telling my story. That’s my fundamental right. Log kya kehta hain unka apna agenda hai.
How much of your research has gone into the conclusions of International Commission for Human Rights and Religious Freedom?
In fact, I am facilitating this. But I am supporting the ICHRRF only from behind the scenes. If I come forward it all becomes political when my interest is only human. It has been wonderful to see so many Kashmiri Pandit testify before the ICHRRF during the last couple of days. That this has happened proves the power of cinema. But I am worried.
But why are you worried?
There is no Hindi cinema any more. It’s all Tamil and Telugu cinema. Everyone is now buying the right of South Indian films. As far as the market is concerned the South Films are performing far better than Hindi films. Secondly all the content being produced in Hindi is being bought by three American companies Amazon, Netflix and Disney+Hotstar. So, India doesn’t own its own soft power any longer. It is selling off all of it to the West. So, these three companies are now dictating the kind of Hindi cinema to make. It’s a very dangerous situation and we aren’t realizing it. The South cinema is under no such pressure as yet.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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