Vivek Agnihotri is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He is also a successful author. He is one of the members of the Central Board of Film Certification of India. He also represents Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Before entering the Indian entertainment industry, he worked as a technician specialist in various reputed and well-known Indian organizations.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Vivek Agnihotri was born on Friday, 21 December 1973 (age 48; as of 2021) in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. Soon after graduation, Vivek Agnihotri went to Bhopal University’s School of Social Sciences to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree, and he went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Planning (Economics) from the same college. After that, Vivek Agnihotri did an advertising course at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi. Later, he took a course in Organization and Management (CSS) at Harvard University.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′7″
Hair color: salt and pepper
Eye Color: Black
family
parents and siblings
Father’s name is Dr. Prabhu Dayal Agnihotri and mother’s name is Sharda Agnihotri.
wife and children
Vivek Agnihotri married Pallavi Joshi on 28 June 1997. Pallavi Joshi is a famous Indian television actor.
Vivek Agnihotri with his wife on their wedding day
The couple has two children, daughter Maalika and son Manan.
Vivek Agnihotri’s wife and children
Autograph
Vivek Agnihotri at a book signing
Career
corporate sector
After completing an advertising course at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Vivek Agnihotri started working as a technical staff in various reputed Indian enterprises and worked in the advertising department of J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, MacCann, Maggi, Nestle and P&G. He then worked with Gillette and Coca Cola on the product launch team. Later, in Delhi, he started his own advertising venture called Art Beat, which was soon named among the top ten fastest growing advertising agencies in India by Business Today magazine.
Indian entertainment industry
Later, Vivek left the corporate sector and entered the Indian entertainment industry as a screenwriter. His first documentary was Social Justice in India which was an award winning documentary. Soon he founded his own production house Vivek Agnihotri Creates. Under this production house, he has produced and shot many commercials for famous brands and institutions like Vicks, Godrej, P&G, Dainik Bhaskar, Government of India and Blind Association of India. He later won an A&M Gold Award and an Ad Club Gold Award for a creative AIDS ad film that recognized his contribution to community well-being.
TV shows
The stories of popular TV shows like Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum (2015), Rishtey (2002), Saturday Suspense (1997), X-Zone (1998), Anubandh and Asambhav (2004) were written by Vivek Agnihotri.
Director
A crime thriller called Chocolate was directed by Vivek Agnihotri in 2005. The film was a remake of the famous Hollywood crime thriller film that was released in 1995. In 2007, Vivek’s film ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ performed averagely at the box office and was declared a flop. His 2014 film Zid also performed poorly at the box office. The movie ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ is based on urban Naxalism and was released in 2014. In this film, Vivek Agnihotri exposed the nexus between Naxals, media, NGOs, terrorists and academics in India. Leftist parties in India protested the film’s release and it was delayed for five years. Vivek Agnihotri faced several violent attacks from his opponents during the shooting of this film as he traveled across India to gather information about the film. “Muhammad and Urvashi” was his next project which was a short film released in 2017 and this film won national and international awards. A film based on the mysterious death of the second Prime Minister of India, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, was directed by Vivek Agnihotri in 2019. The film was titled The Tashkent Files, for which Vivek Agnihotri won an IFTDA Award from the Film and Television Directors Association. Later, the said educational institutions – IIM Ahmedabad and University of Mumbai Media Studies added the case study of The Tashkent Files to the curriculum. Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘Kashmir Files’ was released in 2022 and this film portrayed the Kashmiri Pandit genocide in 1990. The statements of the first generation victims of the Kashmiri genocide were recorded and collected by Vivek Agnihotri, his wife and his daughter around the world. This film was slated to release in August 2021, but due to India’s second COVID-19 lockdown, its release has been delayed.
Board memberships
Apart from being an accomplished filmmaker and author, Vivek Agnihotri has also served as Chairman of the International Jury of the International Film Festival of India, Jury of the National Film Awards and Secretary of the Film Directors Association of India and the Screenwriters Association of India. He is a board member of the CBFC and also represents the Indian Council for Cultural Relations as its Cultural Officer.
Literary works
In 2018, Vivek Agnihotri published a book titled Urban Naxals. That year, this book was considered the best-selling book of the year.
Urban Naxals- a book by Vivek Agnihotri
In 2020, Vivek Agnihotri released his second book titled ‘Who Killed Shastri’ which received critical acclaim during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in India.
Who Killed Shastri – Book by Vivek Agnihotri
confrontations
- In 2018, Vivek Agnihotri sparked controversy when Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta claimed that in 2005, while filming the Hindi crime thriller film Chocolate, Vivek Agnihotri asked Tanushree to strip and take a close-up of her dancing. All allegations have been denied by Vivek Agnihotri, who filed a defamation case against Tanushree Dutta following the incident at a local police station in Maharashtra.
- In September 2018, Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar tweeted against Indian politician PK George, who called a rape victim a whore. In his tweet, Vivek Agnihotri said,
Where is the poster – “#MeTooProstituteNun”?
Accordingly, Vivek Agnihotri’s Twitter handle has been temporarily blocked by Twitter and he has been asked to delete his tweets against Swara Bhaskar. His tweet was misinterpreted and he later clarified and wrote,
I highlighted the liberals’ display of placards at selective instances of alleged perpetrators of the Hindu community.
- In May 2020, Vivek Agnihotri shared a photo of Ratan Tata on Twitter, in which Ratan Tata was posing with a Nano car. Vivek Agnihotri tweeted,
What makes NANO the safest car for women”.
At the top of the picture was written:
There is simply no way to gang-rape here.
Various Twitter users slammed Vivek Agnihotri for sharing such clumsy tweets and hence he deleted the tweet after some time.
Controversial photo shared by Vivek Agnihotri
- In March 2022, soon after the release of the film The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri made allegations against the team of The Kapil Sharma Show for not inviting the cast of The Kashmir Files on The Kapil Sharma Show. Vivek Agnihotri said that the comedian restricted his film’s entry on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ because ‘Kashmir Files’ did not have a popular star cast. Later, Kapil Sharma was spotted clearing up the allegations on several social media platforms.
ᐯildo
- In 2014, Vivek Agnihotri won the best writer and director award at the Jakarta International Film Festival for Buddha in Traffic.
- In 2019, Vivek Agnihotri won the award for Best Screenplay (Dialogue) at the 67th National Film Awards for the film Tashkent Files.
- His film The Kashmir Files was included in the January 2023 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences list of 301 feature films eligible for the Academy Awards.
Facts/Trivia
- His full name is Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri.
- Vivek Agnihotri follows a non-vegetarian diet.
Vivek Agnihotri’s Instagram post reveals his eating habit
- According to some media sources, Vivek Agnihotri is considered the king of thrillers in the Indian entertainment industry.
- On several prominent global platforms, Vivek Agnihotri is often seen giving public speeches mainly on socio-political issues like ‘Creative Thinking’ and ‘Innovation’. These platforms include TED, Harvard University Conclave, Neeti Aayog, Ideas India Conclave, World Hindu Congress, Indo-US Chamber of Commerce and FICCI. He is often invited by various well-known international universities such as Purdue, Columbia, UNC, Houston University, Ohio State University in USA, Oxford University and Kings College in Great Britain as a guest speaker. Various prominent educational institutions of India like IITs, IIMs, National Law University, BHU, JNU, DU and Mumbai University often invite Vivek Agnihotri to speak on various socio-political issues of the country.
- In 2009, Vivek Agnihotri and his wife Pallavi Joshi founded an NGO called ‘I Am Buddha Foundation’, which focuses on training youth who are unable to establish themselves in society. The non-governmental organization is trying to train their minds towards creative thinking. Several underprivileged children and underprivileged families in Maharashtra have been helped financially by the I Am Buddha Foundation during India’s COVID-19 lockdown.
- In 2014, Vivek Agnihotri spoke at the Jadavpur University and Jawaharlal Nehru University screening of his film Buddha in Traffic and his views on the film’s speech were supported by Indian politician Smriti Irani.
- Vivek Agnihotri pioneered a social movement in the US to raise funds for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy when he was studying in the US.
- Most of the male members of Vivek Agnihotri’s family were Indian freedom fighters and were honored by the President of India for their participation in India’s independence struggle.
- A YouTube channel named #VRATV was started by Vivek Agnihotri when the COVID-19 pandemic hit India in 2020 and he televised the latest information related to the COVID-19 disease in India and around the world.
- Vivek Agnihotri is passionate about travel and is a well-known columnist. On various social media platforms, Vivek Agnihotri often posts pictures and videos about his upcoming books and films and is often spotted promoting them. Vivek Agnihotri is a social media influencer with more than 290k followers on his Instagram account. More than 88 thousand people follow his Facebook page. Vivek Agnihotri is actively sharing various posts on his Twitter and more than 708 thousand people are following his twitter.
- Although Vivek Agnihotri supports Narendra Modi, he does not follow the Bharatiya Janata Party.
- Vivek Agnihotri is a fitness fanatic. He regularly does physical exercises at the gym and often shares pictures of his gym sessions on social media.
Vivek Agnihotri at the gym
- Vivek Agnihotri is frequently featured by various prominent Indian magazines and tabloids in their articles.
Vivek Agnihotri in a newspaper article
- Rhode Island, a democratic and liberal US state, awarded Vivek Agnihotri with a certificate of recognition in March 2022 for his film “Kashmir Files” and officially recognized the Kashmiri genocide that took place in 1990.
The democratic and liberal US state of Rhode Island officially recognized the Kashmiri genocide and awarded Vivek Agnihotri a certificate for his film “Kashmir Files in 2022”.
Categories: Bollywood
Source: dienchau2.edu.vn
