The Hansal Mehta-Vivek Agnihotri War Of Words Gets Ugly, Agnihotri Lashes Out At Mehta

They are poles apart. Vivek Agnihotri is a  diehard BJP supporter. Hence when  last week he came out with a scathing attack on  the political activities  at Shaheen Bagh, calling it  , “an Islamistconversion centre and a hideout for all kinds of criminals like pickpockets, mobile thieves, drug-peddlers” ,   Hansal Mehta, who  is  a known anti-establishment  filmmaker came  out with a  scathing attack on Agnihotri calling him a hate-mongering coward.

Mehta  replied to Agnihotri  with a stinging advice to convert to Islam which has  the Twitter  kingdom in  a state  of outrage. “Unfortunately twitter has become a haven for hate-mongering cowards like you. I sincerely hope you get converted to Islam and you get to understand what the religion really stands for. In fact i wish you’d first understand Hinduism so that you do not continue tarnishing it.”

Talking exclusively  to this writer  Vivek Agnihotri  says, “You  know  that I chose  not to respond to  Hansal? How do I respond to a fundamentalist? You know  the  whole problem with the Bollywood fraternity today is that they have no connection with reality.I am  right  now  at  an event  where  40,000 people stood up and sang the  national anthem when the flag went up. There was not  one person there who was against  this. Now you tell me  , who are these  people who are against the  Indian flag,  the national anthem…anything that has to do  with India? I do not belong to the Left wing or  the  Right wing. I  belong  to the India wing. The Bollywood fraternity doesn’t like me  because I  do not subscribe to  sycophancy  or  nepotism.”

What  about Hansal Mehta’s scathing attack  on Vivek’s hostility to  the activities at ShaheenBagh?

RepliesVivek, “Hansal and I have eaten  a lot of meals together. But he has his own compulsions. He’s married to  a Muslim woman. So he must  show his  solidarity with   the community. I have resigned  from Bollywood. I am an  independent  filmmaker. I give two hoots  about these  arrogant  pseudo-liberals  who  only care about I me and myself. Such low-quality people, I don’t care for.Hansal  says I should  covert to  Islam. I would never  convert  to Islam or any  other religion. I am  proud to be  a Hindu. Here ‘s  another thing  I’d never do.I’d never go to SharadPawar’s house and conspire with him to help  the anti-India  crowds that gather at Shaheen Bagh. You will never find  people like Hansal  supporting any  Hindu cause as  if Hinduism doesn’t exist.And if Hindus do exist for  the Mehtas of the world, they(Hindus) are regressive and narrow-minded. These are the  forces  I am fighting,people who in the name of elitism,nepotism and  entitlement  are spreading the cause of  jehad.  I am  going to fight them because I’ve met more than 1000 Kashmiri Pandits whose parents  have been butchered, cut into pieces  with saw machines. I’ve lived , eaten  cried with them. I know their pain. These  urban elites do not  understand their pain.”