Vivek Agnihotri takes jibe at John Abraham's Goal, slams stardom system in Bollywood
"Everyone was like, 'Let's take John, he is a footballer. That's how he became a part of the film. In all of John's scenes, we had to shoot his face and feet separately," he added.The director, without mentioning Abraham, referred to the film 'Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal', and said, "If someone tells me 'reduce my dialogues' Why? Because you can't say them at once? You can't say five lines of dialogues in rhythm at once. This is your problem. Then why are you taking so much money?"Agnihotri directed 'Dhan Dhana Dan Goal', which also featured Bipasha Basu, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Raj Zutshi, Dalip Tahil, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and others in pivotal characters.advertisementThe director recently launched the teaser for his upcoming political-drama 'The Bengal Files', based on the 1940s communal violence in undivided Bengal. Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Puneet Issar and Saswata Chatterjee, among others, feature in the teaser.Produced by Abhishek Agarwal and Pallavi Joshi, the film is presented by Tej Narayan Agarwal and I Am Buddha Productions. 'The Bengal Files' is the third film from Agnihotri's 'Files' series, which previously included 'The Tashkent Files' and 'The Kashmir Files'.The film is scheduled to hit the screens on September 5, 2025.Must Watch
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Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
Move over Aamir Khan, Vivek Agnihotri announces his own Mahabharat; wants to join hands with Karan Johar: ‘Bhakti doesn't have a budget'
Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has joined the growing list of film personalities who've announced their intention to adapt the mythological epic Mahabharat into a grand film. In an interview, he said that he has been working on a Mahabharat adaptation for years, and assumes that it will be the last film project of his career were it to be made, because he wouldn't be able to top it. Similar statements have previously been made by director SS Rajamouli, and actor Aamir Khan. Aamir, in fact, said that he is beginning work on his Mahabharat imminently. Agnihotri told Siddharth Kannan that he is open to collaborating with filmmaker Karan Johar on the project, provided their visions are in alignment. He also appeared to take a dig at Prabhas' epic bomb, Adipurush, and the upcoming Ramayana adaptation headlined by Ranbir Kapoor, when he said that such films cannot be mounted as 'commercial projects'. Much was written about Adipurush's estimated budget of Rs 700 crore, while Ramayana producer Namit Malhotra has gone on the record to say that his movie costs around Rs 4000 crore. Agnihotri said, 'I've been working on several years on an adaptation of the Mahabharat, based on a book by SL Bhyrappa, called Parva. It's considered to be one of the greatest interpretations of the Mahabharat, out of thousands of interpretations. One of the most revered and respected interpretations. He asked me to make a movie on it, and I got the rights. My heart tells me that I should move away from politics… The thing is, you can't make stories based on the Ramayan and the Mahabharat as commercial projects. If you do, you'll get into trouble one way or another.' Also read – 'They don't have aukaat to boycott Ranbir Kapoor': Vivek Agnihotri says every filmmaker in Bollywood secretly badmouths stars, keeps paying them Rs 150 cr for 'sadi acting' He continued, 'You don't need a grand scale. Bhakti doesn't have a budget. People will find God in a rock, and they'll view expensive temples as museums if they want to. I don't want my Mahabharat to be a 'film', with stars and a budget and everything that comes along with it. If it was a film for me, I would've made it already. It's a personal experience for me, and after this, I won't do anything else. That will be the last work of my life. I won't retire, but how can anybody ever top the Mahabharat?' Asked if he would ever want to collaborate with Karan Johar on a project, Agnihotri said, 'Why not? If Karan offers to produce Mahabharat for me, why would I say no? If he needs a director who can do the job, and if I can get the production support that he can bring, why not? Of course, our visions would have to align.' Agnihotri worked for several years as a director for hire, before pivoting away from commercial cinema and directing the incendiary film The Kashmir Files. It earned divisive reactions from inside and outside the film industry, with many accusing him of promoting hate speech and spreading propagandist ideas. He had attracted similar backlash, but to a far smaller degree, after directing The Kashmir Files. In the interview, Agnihotri predicted even bigger controversy around his new film, The Bengal Files, which is scheduled to be released on September 5.
India Today
4 hours ago
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It's going to affect each one of us: John Abraham reacts to Trump tariffs
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India Today
a day ago
- India Today
Exclusive: John Abraham says he's been after Anurag Kashyap for No Smoking sequel
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