Vivek Agnihotri on 'The Mahabharata': 'Others are making for the box-office, I'm going to make it for the people'

Vivek Agnihotri, who made The Kashmir Files, recently spoke to Times Now about the ambition to make a film on The Mahabharata. The filmmaker said, “I don’t know why everybody is saying I am making Mahabharat so I am seriously considering why not. I have spent all my life reading, researching, analysing, and incorporating my own life, in my speeches.”

He added, “But I want to make it like mythology. If I have to make it, I will make it like history. Others are making something for the box office and I am going to make it for the people. Secondly, they made it to glorify Arjun, Bheem, and others. For me, Mahabharat is what is dharma VS Adharma.”

On Bollywood

Vivek Agnihotri, while speaking to Bollywood Bubble, spoke about the Hindi film industry and the changes he would like to see. He said, “Everywhere you go, people are, ‘Ha ha ha, your songs are good, your costumes are beautiful and everyone wants to copy costumes, nobody wants to copy our story. So, with good concern I say that.”

He added, “I don’t have a grudge but I say things about Bollywood because I want Bollywood to change. I want Bollywood to reinvent itself and become the world’s best film industry. I want Bollywood to become a soft power for India and not a laughing stock.”

In a recent interview with Firtspost, when Agnihotri was asked how JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) has shaped him being a product of the institute, he said, “My DNA is very different. I am not a kind of person, who can be shaped by institutes. I also went to Harvard and there is a very famous saying, that this is the Harvard gate and they say, if a horse goes in a horse will come out.