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Vivek Agnihotri
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (born 10 November 1973) is an Indian director, producer, and writer who works in Hindi cinema. He is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Agnihotri made his directorial debut with the crime thriller Chocolate (2005) and has directed multiple films since which failed to propel his career forward until The Tashkent Files (2019) which emerged as a commercial success and earned him the National Film Award for Best Screenplay - Dialogues. He also wrote and directed The Kashmir Files (2022) which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian film of 2022 and earned him the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. He next wrote and directed a medical drama film The Vaccine War (2023) which emerged as a box-office bomb. He released his documentary, The Kashmir Files: Unreported in 2024 and The Bengal Files in 2025.
Agnihotri was born at Jawahar Colony in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to Prabhu Dayal Agnihotri and Sharda Agnihotri. His father was a professor at Victoria College,[citation needed] Gwalior. He did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gwalior. Later, he studied at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication before enrolling at Harvard Extension School for a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management. He has also procured degrees from Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University and DY Patil University.
Agnihotri started his career with the advertising agencies Ogilvy and McCann, and served as creative director for campaigns of Gillette and Coca-Cola. In 1994, he became involved with the directing and production of several television serials; his work was positively received. In 2018, Agnihotri claimed that he had received threats for using the name Mohammad in his short film Mohammad and Urvashi.
Agnihotri debuted in Bollywood with Chocolate (2005), a remake of the 1995 Hollywood neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects. Critical reception of the movie was negative, and the film fared poorly at box office.
His next venture, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, was about an all-Asian football team in the United Kingdom that wins trophies while fighting on-field discrimination and the local municipality that wants to sell the team's ground. It received poor reception from critics and did "average" business at the box office.He then directed Hate Story, which received mixed critical reception and fared moderately at the box office.
His next film, Buddha in a Traffic Jam featured his wife Pallavi and premiered at Mumbai International Film Festival in 2014; it was received unfavorably by critics and severely under-performed at the box office. Upon release, it attracted attention and controversy for its political content, with screenings at several universities sparking protests and clashes. Junooniyat was also subject to poor reviews and fared similarly.
Agnihotri's 2014 erotic thriller Zid received poor reviews but did average business at the box office. However, Agnihotri has since claimed that credit for direction and screenplay was wrongly attributed to him, and that he was not involved with the film. The Tashkent Files became a sleeper box-office hit and won National Film Awards. In March 2022, Agnihotri released The Kashmir Files on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus; which become a blockbuster hit and earned him another National Film Award. Shortly after the release of the film, he was provided Y-category security detail across the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs based on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau. Agnihotri's next film was the medical drama film The Vaccine War (2023) which was about the development of Covaxin during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The film opened to mixed reviews from the critics and emerged as a box-office bomb.
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Vivek Agnihotri
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (born 10 November 1973) is an Indian director, producer, and writer who works in Hindi cinema. He is a member of the board of India's Central Board of Film Certification and a cultural representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Agnihotri made his directorial debut with the crime thriller Chocolate (2005) and has directed multiple films since which failed to propel his career forward until The Tashkent Files (2019) which emerged as a commercial success and earned him the National Film Award for Best Screenplay - Dialogues. He also wrote and directed The Kashmir Files (2022) which emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian film of 2022 and earned him the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. He next wrote and directed a medical drama film The Vaccine War (2023) which emerged as a box-office bomb. He released his documentary, The Kashmir Files: Unreported in 2024 and The Bengal Files in 2025.
Agnihotri was born at Jawahar Colony in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh to Prabhu Dayal Agnihotri and Sharda Agnihotri. His father was a professor at Victoria College,[citation needed] Gwalior. He did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gwalior. Later, he studied at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication before enrolling at Harvard Extension School for a Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management. He has also procured degrees from Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University and DY Patil University.
Agnihotri started his career with the advertising agencies Ogilvy and McCann, and served as creative director for campaigns of Gillette and Coca-Cola. In 1994, he became involved with the directing and production of several television serials; his work was positively received. In 2018, Agnihotri claimed that he had received threats for using the name Mohammad in his short film Mohammad and Urvashi.
Agnihotri debuted in Bollywood with Chocolate (2005), a remake of the 1995 Hollywood neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects. Critical reception of the movie was negative, and the film fared poorly at box office.
His next venture, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, was about an all-Asian football team in the United Kingdom that wins trophies while fighting on-field discrimination and the local municipality that wants to sell the team's ground. It received poor reception from critics and did "average" business at the box office.He then directed Hate Story, which received mixed critical reception and fared moderately at the box office.
His next film, Buddha in a Traffic Jam featured his wife Pallavi and premiered at Mumbai International Film Festival in 2014; it was received unfavorably by critics and severely under-performed at the box office. Upon release, it attracted attention and controversy for its political content, with screenings at several universities sparking protests and clashes. Junooniyat was also subject to poor reviews and fared similarly.
Agnihotri's 2014 erotic thriller Zid received poor reviews but did average business at the box office. However, Agnihotri has since claimed that credit for direction and screenplay was wrongly attributed to him, and that he was not involved with the film. The Tashkent Files became a sleeper box-office hit and won National Film Awards. In March 2022, Agnihotri released The Kashmir Files on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus; which become a blockbuster hit and earned him another National Film Award. Shortly after the release of the film, he was provided Y-category security detail across the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs based on inputs from the Intelligence Bureau. Agnihotri's next film was the medical drama film The Vaccine War (2023) which was about the development of Covaxin during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The film opened to mixed reviews from the critics and emerged as a box-office bomb.
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