Vivek Agnihotri thanks PM Narendra Modi for praising The Vaccine War: ‘Modi should also be…’

Sharing the video of the PM’s speech in Jodhpur, Agnihotri tweeted: “It’s heartening to hear PM @narendramodi acknowledge the contribution of Indian scientists, especially women scientists in making the indigenous vaccine under his leadership. Women scientists called and got emotional ‘first time a PM praised Virologists’ they said.”

“It’s overwhelming that PM @narendramodi ji has once again spoken highly about #TheVaccineWar #ATrueStory in Jabalpur. Twice in a day,” he noted while sharing Modi’s speech in Jabalpur.

#WATCH | Jodhpur, Rajasthan: “I have heard that a film ‘The Vaccine War’ has come. The scientists of our country worked hard day and night to fight COVID-19 in India…All these things have been shown in that film… I congratulate the makers of this film for giving importance to… pic.twitter.com/XQvUc6Ne9O

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2023

Later in the day, Vivek Agnihotri mentioned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should also be praised as the vaccine was made under his leadership. “I had come to Bhopal for a function, and when I came out from there I came to know that PM Modi had talked about our film. Actually, Modi should also be praised that the vaccine was made under his leadership. He has empowered our scientists and the scientific world so much that today India has scaled great heights and the sky is not the limit is becoming true,” Agnihotri told news agency ANI.

Recalling March 2020, Agnihotri observed that at that point, the whole world was thinking about death. However, he said, with the vaccine’s development in just nine to ten months, people began to shift their mindset towards embracing and cherishing life.

#WATCH | Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri says, “PM Modi should also be appreciated for this because the vaccine was made under the leadership of PM Modi. He empowered the scientists & scientific field & therefore India today is achieving great success. The sky is not the limit is… https://t.co/Ihmx8uADw6 pic.twitter.com/kCR4wFgGyJ

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2023

“In Indian tradition, the one who saves a life is considered as God, but nobody even knows who those people (scientists) were, who were risking their lives to make the vaccine to save the lives of people. You will be surprised to know that 70 per cent of the heroes (scientists) locked in the lab were women. But no one ever makes films on such subjects,” he observed.

“We decided that we would make this film because if we did not make this film then no one else would make it. After watching this movie, you will cry and laugh and when you come out, your heart will fill with pride for India. You will leave the theatre with one feeling that India can do it,” Agnihotri added.

However, The Vaccine War, which marks Agnihotri’s return to the director’s chair after his controversial film The Kashmir Files, is on track to become one of the biggest box-office disappointments in recent times. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the movie has earned only Rs 10.5 crore worldwide in the past seven days since its release on September 28.

The director had recently said that he always knew he wouldn’t be able to replicate the success of his blockbuster The Kashmir Files with The Vaccine War. “This is a small film and we always knew that this will grow with word of mouth and now it is, which is a positive sign,” he told DNA.

Agnihotri said that he’d anticipated a muted response, which is why he kept costs low on the film. “Since I knew its scope is not as much, we made this film in Rs 10 crore. We could have made it bigger, kept the budget at Rs 50 crore. But we cut costs,” he added.