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Vivek Agnihotri is readying up for his next theatrical The Vaccine War, which hits cinema halls this week. Ahead of the same, the filmmaker, in an interview opened up about how Javed Akhtar messaged him after watching the team at Times Square while promoting their film. He also read out the message, the writer sent him and called him a ‘genius’.
Agnihotri was in conversation with Galata Plus where he spoke about recreating the ‘Srishti se pehle’ song in the trailer. He shared that while it was the title track of TV show Bharat Ek Khoj, it originates from the Rig Veda. The filmmaker shared that his wife was part of the TV show but it was during the Covid pandemic that he was drawn toward the theory of creation of the universe. He shared how everyone was back then wondering about the cosmos, where we came from, and whether it was the end. Vivek Agnihotri shared that everyone was talking about the Big Bang Theory. He added how these theories have been part of our basics.
The filmmaker stopped and shared how Javed Akhtar sent him a ‘brilliant message’. Vivek Agnihotri said that Akhtar saw them perform the song at Times Square and sent out his wishes. He said that only a ‘genius’ like him could have written something.
“Vivek sahab, this is a hymn from Rig Veda which I have recently read. One’s heart fills with pride that one is born in the land of such philosophers who many millennium ago could look at the universe like a grand master would look at a chessboard and imagine all the possible moves. I am really moved and overjoyed,” Vivek Agnihotri read Javed Akhtar’s message.
He added that a lot of people think that he has a lot of critics but there are many who reach out to him personally and send in their wishes.
Last year, during a live chat with The Cārvāka Podcast, Vivek Agnihotri had praised Javed Akhtar for staying true to the Hindi language in Lagaan. “Even a man like Javed Akhtar, the bhajans he wrote for Lagaan were pure Hindi. ‘Madhuban mein Radha..’ there is not a single Urdu word in it. Because these were well-read, intelligent people who were tied to the roots of India. He may be a communist, he may fight against the right-wing, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
He also lauded the lyricist’s films and how his lead characters of angry young men would fight the corrupt system. “All of Javed Akhtar’s heroes, all of them were either a labourer’s son, a teacher’s son and he would fight a dacoit or a mill owner or a zamindar. He would fight a corrupt police inspector or corrupt MLA. In which movie of recent times would you find MLAs, MPs, Police inspectors, IAS officers as the villains? It’s as if India has no issues at all. The only issues are whether you are sleeping with this person or that person. That’s where they have brought Bollywood,” Agnihotri said.
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