Vivek Agnihotri’s Wife, Pallavi Joshi Replies On Donating ‘The Kashmir Files’ Earnings

The Kashmir Files, directed by Vivek Agnihotri and based on the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, has been a big office hit. Despite facing heavy competition from SS Rajamouli’s RRR, the film is showing no signs of slowing down and is performing phenomenally.

On March 11th, it was released. The film stars Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumaar, Mithun Chakraborty, and Pallavi Joshi. Under the banners of Zee Studios, IAmBuddha, and Abhishek Agarwal Arts, Tej Narayan Agarwal, Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi, and Vivek Agnihotri produced the film.

Million people around the world have learned about the tragic truth of Kashmir and the horrendous genocide of non-Muslim Kashmiris (mostly Kashmiri Pandits) that has been covered up or neglected for years, thanks to the film The Kashmir Files. Some people find it difficult to believe that the film is based on genuine events because the victims of the tragedy were never addressed the brutality they faced is beyond the human conscience.

In both positive and negative aspects, the 1990 massacre of Kashmiri Pandits has attracted the world’s attention, including that of numerous organisations and Bollywood celebrities. However, it also attracted a lot of politics which was going on in the name of Kashmiri Pandits.

While BJP and other mostly right-wing organizations support this film, on the other side, several political outfits labelled this film as a propaganda film against a specific religion and political parties.

The Kashmir Files is already making the headlines around the world for a few days, with footage showing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposing to make it tax-free in the city. The video, which was shot from the Delhi assembly, went viral on social media, with many people criticising the lawmaker. Netizens, as well as a few lawmakers, criticised the CM for his hostile statements.

But on the other hand, there are several people who support Kejriwal’s stand and think that the makers of the film should donate the money they earned in the name of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmiri Pandits. Many social media users have asked the filmmaker if he intended to share the earnings with the victims, the Kashmiri Pandits, as a result of the film’s popularity. Agnihotri and his actress-wife Pallavi Joshi, who also had a key role in the film, have reacted by criticising those who pose such comments.

Pallavi disclosed to RJ Siddharth Kanan that they utilised the proceeds from The Taskent Files to support the research for The Kashmir Files

She went on to mention that they came across youngsters who did not have access to reading throughout their investigation. Then Agnihotri stepped in and shared,

“From past few years, we are helping the Kashmiri Pandit community and when do you ‘service’ work I don’t like to talk about it. We’ve been doing it for a long time and we’ll keep doing it. It’s been us and them and I don’t think we owe anything to 3rd person.”

Pallavi Joshi went on to criticise persons who sought donations from The Kashmir Files revenues, saying,

“I think it’s very vulgar of people to actually ask us, ‘if you earn 400 crores, how many crores will you donate to them.’ This is a very vulgar question for people to ask because the film already has 4 producers. Who gets how much is a very long drawn mathematics. Also, whenever any producer makes money out of any film, they obviously put it to make more projects.”

During a press conference in Lucknow, comedian Kunal Kamra also mocked Agnihotri for not sharing the film’s profits with Kashmiri Pandits and avoiding the topic. However, social media users mocked the comedian, claiming that no other Bollywood producer is required to share their film’s profits.

On the professional front, Agnihotri is currently filming The Delhi Files, the last installment of the ‘Files’ trilogy. According to reports, the future film would focus on the right to life.