Vivek Agnihotri on student protests: Such things are necessary in a democracy

Mumbai: Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri was recently spotted at a screening of a film based on the spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba, where he spoke about the importance of protests in a democracy.
While interacting with the media on the red carpet, Agnihotri initially hesitated to comment on the protests taking place alongside the screening.
However, he later remarked, “This is a democracy; things happen, and they have been happening for a long time. Thousands of protests have occurred over the past 70 years and will continue to do so. In fact, they should happen; why shouldn’t they?”
For context, Vivek Agnihotri has been part of the Hindi film industry for over two decades. He began his career as a director with ‘Chocolate’ (2005) and subsequently directed films such as ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’, ‘Hate Story’, ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’, and ‘The Tashkent Files’.
The filmmaker garnered significant acclaim and commercial success with the 2022 film ‘The Kashmir Files’, which depicted the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley. The film proved to be one of the biggest box-office hits of that year.
Following this, Vivek Agnihotri made ‘The Vaccine War’, a film based on India’s scientific efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is currently preparing for the release of ‘The Delhi Files’, the next chapter in his “Files” trilogy.
He is married to actress Pallavi Joshi.
Regarding the protests, they were staged by students demanding accuracy and transparency in the education system, particularly in the wake of the NEET paper leak.
Students and protesters had also demanded the resignation of the then-Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.