IMAGE: Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi in The Kashmir Files.
The Kashmir Files Director Vivek Agnihotri, his wife and Co-Producer Pallavi Joshi and Producer Abhishek Aggarwal have sent West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a legal notice for ‘false and highly defamatory statements made with malafide intention to defame us and our films.’
The notice, among other things, claims that Banerjee had made several false allegations against The Kashmir Files. Among these allegations, the legal notice points out that Banerjee had alleged that Agnihotri’s film was funded by the BJP.
This is the first time that a chief minister has been sued by a film-maker.
Before sending the legal notice, Agnihotri had tweeted, ‘In this video, I guess, @MamataOfficial didi is talking about me. Yes, I came to Bengal to interview survivors of Direct Action Day genocide instigated by Khilafat. And the role of Gopal Patha. Why are you scared?
‘#TheKashmirFiles was about Genocide and terrorism. On what basis do you think it was to defame Kashmiri people? On what basis do you say so maliciously that it is funded by a political party?
‘Why shouldn’t I file a defamation case and a case of Genocide Denial against you? Btw, the film is called #TheDelhiFiles not Bengal Files. And nobody can silence me.’
This tweet was accompanied by a video clip of Banerjee calling The Kerala Story ‘distorted’ and that The Kashmir Files was made to ‘humiliate one section.’
Interestingly, this legal notice comes after Banerjee imposed a ban on Sudipto Sen’s The Kerala Story.
