Vivek Agnihotri’s latest directorial venture, The Kashmir Files, has become an all time blockbuster at the box office. While the film is getting a lot of love from the Indian public, it has upset the Indian political opposition. From shifting the blame of the Kashmiri Hindu genocide to completely denying it, they have tried everything. Now, TMC leader Saket Gokhale, has come up with a new fake news to discredit the film.
In a tweet posted on Saturday by Gokhale, who has been previously accused of misappropriating public donations, he alleged that The Kashmir Files film was passed by the censor board without any cuts. He alleged that this happened because Vivek Agnihotri is a member of the censor board.
Looking through Censor Board/CBFC files, one thing stood out glaringly:
— Saket Gokhale 🇺🇦 (@SaketGokhale) March 19, 2022
Movie #KashmirFiles was granted a CBFC/Censor certificate WITHOUT A SINGLE CUT.
This is unprecedented.
But then here’s the catch:
Vivek Agnihotri, who made the film, is on the board of CBFC. pic.twitter.com/Pa7BSJETOr
The allegation was picked up without any verification by leading newspapers like Times of India, and began circulating online. Incidentally, Times of India does have a fact-check division.
As previously reported on Opindia, The Kashmir Files was passed after 7 cuts, and given an A certificate by the Censor Board. The name of the University in the film was also changed from JNU to ANU. The news of the censor board cuts was shared by several prominent Bollywood websites as well.
However, Gokhale, it seems, didn’t bother to check any of the facts of the story, and having just found out that Vivek Agnihotri is one of the member of the censor board, concluded that there were no cuts in the film.
The film’s director, Vivek Agnihotri, finally called out Gokhale on Sunday in a tweet. Vivek wrote ,”Please stop spreading fake news, like always. Take a little break. At least to respect the dead.”
Please stop spreading fake news, like always. Take a little break. At least to respect the dead. https://t.co/hZflsTUbOk pic.twitter.com/yvOKhGieDX
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 20, 2022
Meanwhile, The Kashmir Files continues to run to packed cinema houses everywhere. The film has already collected over 140 Crores at the box office, and is on track to hit 200 Crores within its second week of release.
