Winning the National Film Award for Dialogue writing for his film The Tashkent Files (2019) is a victorious moment for filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri for many reasons.

“It feels great. A National Film Award is something else altogether. I would be lying if I say I am not elated,” he says.

He also notes how this will now bring more credibility and respect for him as many had criticised the film and called it too verbose. “At least nobody can now challenge me about my script writing and dialogue writing. The Tashkent Files was stuck for a long time as everybody said this film will not work because it has no screenplay, no climax, no proper ending and it has too many dialogues. People were criticizing the screenplay and dialogues so much, but now look it got an award for that very aspect. Now people will not question me about my capabilities or my work,” shares the 47-year-old.

It is a double treat for Agnihotri as his wife, Pallavi Joshi, won Best Supporting Actress for the thriller on the death of former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

“We both do very little work. Pallavi did this film after a gap of six years. She is very choosy. Even I make films araam se. This film took about four years to make. We put in so many years, so much money, emotions and passion has gone into it. When you get awards like this it gives you the courage and patience to make another film,” the director says.

On how he celebrated the win at the 67th National Awards, Agnihotri shares he went straight back to work. “People celebrated in office but I went inside the edit room and kept editing my next film, The Kashmir Files. I realised it has to be far better than The Tashkent Files. That responsibility is also on me now,” he adds.