Shalabh Anand Bajpai (DNA; October 2, 2019)

Not only Mahatma Gandhi, October 2 is also freedom fighter and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s birth anniversary. To celebrate it, &pictures is all set to premier The Tashkent Files, which is based on the life and the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of the nation’s second PM. “I’m happy that for the first time in the history of India, apart from Gandhi ji’s films, something different will be premiered on television. Watching this movie will also give facts that haven’t been clear to the new gen. Shastri ji’s life is what the youth should watch. They will know what type of India he wanted,” says director Vivek Agnihotri.

Ask him what prompted him to make a film on Shastri and he says, “I wanted a subject that was not touched by anyone. Moreover, it was a topic no one had explored because of the controversy surrounding his death. When a country’s government is involved in something, no filmmaker tries to make a film on it. It took me four years to make this movie, we filed a RTI, and also went through all the CIA, KGB and parliamentarian records. I wanted to make an honest film.”

Vivek feels The Tashkent Files should have been India’s Oscar entry. “It truly deserves to be one of the top runners but due to politics, it couldn’t make it,” says he.

About his upcoming projects, he stated he’s making another film that’s controversial. “The Kashmir Files is based on the mass exodus of Kashmiri pandits from the valley in 1989-90 due to militancy. I am also working on a web-series, based on controversial Supreme Court cases. I am penning a book called India For Sale,” shares the filmmaker.

The Tashkent Files will premiere on &pictures today at 12 pm.