Vivek Agnihotri who is still basking in the success of his recent film The Kashmir Files had announced his next film- The Delhi Files a couple of days back. However, the announcement of the film has not gone down well with everyone. The Maharashtra Sikh association reacting to the film said that filmmakers should desist from disturbing the uneasy calm in society". The comment comes in the wake of speculation that the film will feature the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
In a press release, the Maharashtra Sikh Association said it expresses "strong reservation against the exploitation and commercialization of unfortunate tragic chapters of humankind like the Sikh riots by people in the name of creative expression and personal profiteering".
Reacting to the same, Agnihotri told PTI, "I have no idea which organisation is this. I am an Indian; I live in a sovereign state, which gives me full right to express myself in whichever manner I want. I will make what I need to make, what my conscience tells me to make. I am not a servant to anybody's demands or organisations”.
"I have not even announced what I'm making, why I am making it. People are making assumptions, which they can keep making. But ultimately it is only for the CBFC to decide what kind of film I make and if it should be allowed to release or not," he said.
The Sikh Association while raising objection also said that Mr. Agnihotri, "emboldened with the controversy and hype" created by "The Kashmir Files" is intending to "commercialise tragedy of humankind like the 1984 riots".
"There is already polarisation in the society and hatred among various communities and vivid depiction of unfortunate tragic incidents of the history in a commercial way will only foment the ill feelings and fragile peace," it said.
"India is a land of unity in diversity and people professing different faiths have tried to live in harmony and peace with each other and the Sikh community is trying to forget the dark chapter in the history of Sikh community," their statement read.
The association said that the Sikh community is healing and slowly trying to forget the past and move ahead. "Many of the culprits have either died or are behind the bars. Justice has come with delay, but it has come. Even the then Government had apologised for these riots in the Parliament," it said.
"By extracting profits by depicting deaths in gory details will only result in poisoning the minds of the new generation, who might have heard about it but now seeing them on screen will boil their blood, and spread hatred against others... It would be a deliberate attempt to reopen the wounds of the old and vitiate the fragile peace in the society. This is neither correct nor ethical," it added.
In the statement, the association said if a film has to be made; it should be about "fostering unity, harmony, brotherhood, and national integration".
"The creative pursuits depicting the teachings of our revered Gurus will send a positive message in the society. Maharashtra Sikh Association joins the voice of Indian diaspora worldwide and the Sikh community in particular in asking the makers of The Kashmir Files to desist from disturbing the uneasy calm in the society," the statement concluded.
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