After a brief hiatus, the film Kashmir Files is back in the conversation, thanks to the New Yorker’s interview with director Vivek Agnihotri.
The interview, headlined “What a Disturbing New Film Reveals About Modi’s India”, notes how the Kashmir Files is “perfect propaganda” for India’s nationalists and is “missing vital historical context”.
But we would be lying if we said our interest in this interview had loftier motives. Agnihotri was asked by the New Yorker about his “facts are not facts” comment which he once made in an interview with us.
In response, the director said that his comments had been edited and decontextualised. “He edited it to his advantage to take the context out," Agnihotri claimed, referring to Newslaundry's Abhinandan Sekhri, who had interviewed him. "The complete sentence was ‘Facts are not facts if they’re coming from people like you.’ This was the complete sentence.”
Nope, it wasn't.
Here's the full interview. Subscribe to Newslaundry and watch it for yourself.
Still, we would have loved for Agnihotri to come and attempt the clarification in a follow-up interview with us, but he was busy being turned away by press clubs and holding “press conferences" at hotels. We did ask.
You're like an 80s-90s ka dilliwala @vivekagnihotri
— Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) June 1, 2022
Crash a party u're not invited to, pick a fight & whine that these snobs never invite you
Angrez validation chahiye!!
Here i keep inviting u & humari koi kadar nahin#OneMoreInterview ki party
Please RT if u'll attend our party https://t.co/ezfoFJ8aij
Hi Vivek. I offer you Newslaundry studio for your presser. I will also ask questions. We cant arrange too many snacks but tea and biscuits we can manage. My team has been chasing yours for an interview about your remarkable film but they keep dodging. Lets do this.. win-win https://t.co/KASqTtY5E8
— Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) May 4, 2022
Coming back to the New Yorker piece, when the interviewer cited one of his tweets in which he said the same, Agnihotri declared, “I always tweet ‘facts are not facts’ if they’re coming from communists or Naxalites.”
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