“You can’t silence me”: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri deactivates Twitter account after getting death threats over ‘The Kashmir Files’

Bengaluru: Receiving death threats over his upcoming film "The Kashmir Files", filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has deactivated his Twitter account.

The filmmaker issued an open letter sharing his agony at getting threat calls to stop release of his movie.

"A lot of people are wondering if my Twitter account is suspended. No, it's not. I had deactivated it. "Here is why: Since I started the campaign of #The KashmirFiles, Twitter shadow banned me. My followers dropped drastically and most of my followers couldn't see any of my tweets," he said on Friday.

"On top of that, my DM was filled with vulgar and threatening messages (by you know who). "It's not that I can't handle such elements, but it seemed there were many Pakistani and Chinese bots. However tough you may be, it's mentally testing to be surrounded by such intense hate and threats for your family," Agnihotri stated.

"And all this fatwa, threats, abuses... for what? For making an honest film on the pain and sufferings of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters? "Are they rattled that the truth may come out? The ugly world of social media has given power to a lot of evil elements. And our silence gives them hope to succeed. TheKashmirFiles breaks that silence. Loud and clear," the filmmaker added.

"The KashmirFiles is an attempt to expose inhuman terrorism that has destroyed India's most sacred land of Shiva and Saraswati. And now religious terrorism is making inroads in mainland India. That's why they want people like me silenced. "I always speak for those who can't be heard. I have been exposing many untruths and fake narratives of anti-India Urban Naxals. They want to silence me. But I know very well that silence leads to tragic events like Kashmir Genocide. They must know that I can't be silenced," he added.

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The film directed by Agnihotri is based on video interviews of the first generation victims of The Kashmir Genocide of Kashmiri Pandit Community.

The film features a stellar cast including Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi and Chinmay Mandlekar.

It is produced by Zee Studios and Tej Narayan Agarwal, Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri.

The film is slated for theatre release on March 11. (UNI)