Vivek Agnihotri accuses Shashi Tharoor of taking bribes to promote foreign vaccines, MP says he’s ‘seeking legal advice’

Shashi Tharoor has called Vivek Agnihotri's comments against him a 'cheap bid for publicity', and said that he is contemplating legal action.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | September 28, 2023 01:04 PM IST

3 min read

Shashi Tharoor has responded to allegations made against him by Vivek Agnihotri.

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that he is ‘seeking legal advice’ after he was made aware of film director Vivek Agnihotri’s comment about him. In an interview, Agnihotri said that people holding ‘constitutional positions’ took bribes to promote foreign vaccines over indigenous ones.

Agnihotri’s new film, The Vaccine War, tells the story of the Indian scientists who created the the Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine. Tharoor said in a tweet that Agnohtri’s comments are an ‘obvious bid for publicity.’ He wrote in response to a clip from Agnihotri’s video interview with OpIndia, “It is a obviously a cheap bid for publicity, but the concern is that once a lie is repeated often enough, some people will start to believe it. Am seeking legal advice.”

Also read | Vivek Agnihotri claims ‘money is being paid’ so no one talks about The Vaccine War; says studios offered him Rs 300 crore to make Kashmir Files sequel

In the widely shared clip, Agnihotri said that he doesn’t mind people taking money to promote films such as Jawan, because it is a business transaction. But he takes offense to elected representatives taking bribes to promote activities that go against the nation’s best interests. When the interviewer asked whom he was referring to, the director said, “Chief Minister of Delhi, it’s a constitutional post. Mr Shashi Tharoor, he’s a member of parliament, it’s a constitutional post.”

Asked if he is accusing them of taking bribes, Agnihotri said that he is simply telling the ‘truth’, and added that he was forced to remove certain details from his film, but the censored portions can be seen in the international cut. He went on to cite reasons for why he believes bribes were taken by certain individuals during the pandemic to go against the government.

A follow-up to his blockbuster hit The Kashmir Files, The Vaccine War features Nana Patekar, Pallavi Joshi, Raima Sen, Anupam Kher, Girija Oak, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Sapthami Gowda, and Mohan Kapur. The film was released in theatres on Thursday.

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