Pallavi Joshi Hits Back At The Vaccine War Trolls, Says 'They Won't Watch It Because...' | Exclusive

Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri have been at the receiving end of immense backlash by many who felt like they have been trying to disseminate a narrative of disharmony through their films. The Kashmir Files based on the Kashmiri Pandit exodus went on to become a money spinner at the box and eventually won both of them National Awards but the extreme reactions to the film from the audience and the film fraternity alike continue to create waves on social media. Their upcoming release The Vaccine War hasn’t been spared either.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Joshi, who plays a pivotal part in the film and has also co-produced it with her husband, reacts to netizens calling it an agenda-driven film and asserts, “I don’t have anything to say to them because they aren’t my audience. They aren’t the kind of people who will understand the sentiment of the country.” She goes on to recall how the first film in their trilogy, The Tashkent Files, was also slammed by many. “Many called that a propaganda film. Lal Bahadur Shastri was a Congress leader. So, how is it a propaganda film, I don’t understand!”

Urging everyone to watch The Vaccine War first and then draw conclusions, Joshi emphatically says, “If they’re listening to me, I would ask them to watch The Vaccine War once and then decide for themselves what this is. But I know that they won’t watch it because they’ll get converted once they see it (laughs).”

According to Joshi, the overwhelming response they received from the audience last month when the film was screened across the USA as part of the India For humanity Tour has shut down all detractors. In fact, Joshi and Agnihotri were joined by actor-director R Madhavan for one of the screenings. Happy to have received his support, she says, “He was on a tour and we kept missing him in all the other cities. We finally caught up with each other in Washington DC. Vivek spoke to him and he told us that he was leaving the same night but made time for us and watched the film.”

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Recollecting his feedback and how it ‘resonated’ with the filmmaker in him, Joshi remarks, “He told me, ‘The film in itself is so good and it comes with such a great sense of patriotism that everything is going to get wiped out in front of the magnitude of the emotions you feel after watching it. Pallavi, you’ve done a wonderful job but nobody is going to speak about your acting because everybody’s only going to talk about the film.’ When you hear an incredible actor and committed filmmaker like Madhavan telling you such things, it warms your heart.”

Speaking about Madhavan, who also bagged a National Award this year, Joshi points out that theirs is a friendship that goes ‘back a long way’. “Maddy’s also a very dear friend. We’ve worked together long back when he started his career. His first serial was with me, Aarohan. Vivek directed both of us together for a series called Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum. By then, he was a little established on television,” she says.