Vivek Agnihotri, director of upcoming film The Tashkent Files, has accused a popular journalist of wrongly presenting his film. He took to Twitter citing a television interview between senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai and actor Vivek Oberoi, who is appearing in upcoming biopic PM Narendra Modi, in which the TV show host purportedly said The Tashkent Files “raises questions on the Congress leadership”.
Agnihotri said someone had sent him a clip from the interview to him, and since the host had blocked him on Twitter, he had no other way to communicate to him than putting out a public post.
Sardesai, during the interview with actor Vivek Oberoi, mentioned films like The Accidental Prime Minister and The Tashkent Files, and said the latter “raises questions on the Congress leadership”.
The Tashkent Files plot revolves around the death of former India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent (now Uzbekistan) in the USSR under mysterious circumstances in 1966 when he was there for a peace agreement between India and Pakistan after the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
In his post, Agnihotri has asked how the does the interviewer know, without watching the film, that the film implicates the Congress leadership. He asked if the senior journalist was “politically prejudiced” against him.
He claims his film explores all possibilities around the death of Shastriji. Stating that the journalist should not create a “narrative before facts”, the director implored Sardesai to invite him to his show, saying he could be given a chance to explain after being wrongfully accused.
Friends,
Someone sent me the attached clip from Rajdeep Sardesai’s show.
Since Rajdeep Sardesai has blocked me, I have not other way to communicate to him.
Can someone send my note to him.
I am sure he will be fair. https://t.co/iGf3jfQRG5 pic.twitter.com/ESHgwNDE7t
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) April 3, 2019
The Tashkent Files stars Mithun Chakraborty, Pankaj Tripathi, Shweta Basu Prasad, Mandira Bedi, Naseeruddin Shah, and Vinay Pathak among others in key roles.
The film is slated to release on 12 April 2019.