Exclusive! Vivek Agnihotri: I start thinking of Salman, SRK, John when you ask me about franchise

Currently in news for The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri has paved a way on his own in Bollywood. Claiming he has left the industry, Vivek also went on to pass on a snarky comment on superstars of the industry Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and John Abraham. When we asked him if he plans a film franchise with The Tashkent Files, The Kashmir Files and The Delhi Files, the filmmaker mentioned that the word reminds him of the three actors and other ‘big wicks’ of Bollywood.

When we asked Vivek if he is aiming to turn the trilogy (The Tashkent Files, The Kashmir Files and The Delhi Files) into a franchise, the filmmaker instantly remarked, “I won’t call it a franchise because a franchise is for very big stars. I get scared hearing that word. The minute you say franchise, I think of Salman, Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham.”

He clarifies, “It’s not a franchise, it’s a trilogy. When I made The Tashkent Files, before that I had decided to make a trilogy. When you see the third part, you’ll realize that this is my commentary on independent India’s democracy.”

Describing the reason why he chose to make the trilogy, Vivek shared, “My first film, The Tashkent Files, was based on the theme of right to truth, The Kashmir Files is based on right to justice and my next film, The Delhi Files, is based on right to life. If you see our emblem, you see three lions and the fourth one is invisible. As a child, I always wondered what do the three lions represent. Then I thought about what the three pillars of democracy are. The first one is knowing the truth. A democracy has no meaning without that. Suppose somebody comes and destroys your house, you have the right of truth to know who did it. The second is justice. In democracy, do you get justice? If somebody captures your house, you won’t get justice for 70 years. The third one is right to life. If you walk out and some people come and burn that bus, is the state capable of protecting you all? If somebody gropes a girl travelling in a train, is the state protecting her dignity or not? These are the three debatable things about democracy. Therefore, I decided to make these three lions come to life. Making these three films accordingly was a conscious decision which took me a couple of years to crystalize.”

Upon further probing him by stating that there is an invisible fourth lion in the emblem and thus, the films could turn into a franchise, Vivek simply added that he is the invisible lion. “That’s me,” he signed off.