Several media houses have claimed that ‘The Kashmir Files’ did not receive any National Award this year, despite being a super-hit at the box office.
On its Facebook page, ABP News claimed that the movie failed to bag any accolades at the 68th National Awards. It must be mentioned that on Friday (July 22), the Government of India’s Directorate of Film Festivals awarded movies released in 2020.
The awards were decided by a 10-member jury, led by director Vipul Shah. Given that only films made in 2020 were honoured, it was obvious that ‘The Kashmir Files’ released this year did not feature in any of the categories.
ABP News falsely claimed that the National Awards were being handed out for movies that were produced this year, thereby suggesting that ‘The Kashmir Files’ failed to gain any recognition.
A similar gaffe was made by Aaj Tak’s sister channel ‘News Tak’. Director Vivek Agnihotri was dismayed at the brazen misinformation peddled by both the mainstream media outlets.
While taking to Twitter, he accused them of sabotaging his movie ‘The Kashmir Files.’ Agnihotri remarked, “A lot of reputed media houses are running a vicious ‘Hit Job’ against #TheKashmirFiles. And no one is fact-checking them.”
“If they do this to ‘terrorist friendly’ Bollywood films, ecosystem would instantly call it Islamophobia. I leave it here for your conscience to decide,” he further emphasised.
Interestingly, Vivek Agnihotri himself congratulated Ajay Devgan and Suriya for bagging the best actor award for the movies ‘Tanhaji’ and ‘Soorarai Pottru’ respectively.
“It’s a great day for South cinema and all the regional ones. Hindi cinema needs to work harder,” he had tweeted. Earlier, the Quint had tried to label ‘The Kashmir Files’ as Islamophobic and cancel the speaking tour of its director.