Director

Vivek Agnihotri

Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is a filmmaker who really found his groove by diving into India's most complex and contested stories. Born in Gwalior and trained at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, he spent years developing his craft before hitting it big with The Tashkent Files (2019), a political thriller that finally got audiences and critics paying attention. But it was The Kashmir Files (2022) that made him a household name—the film became one of the biggest Indian releases that year and snagged the prestigious Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. His work has earned him multiple National Film Awards and positioned him as a significant voice in Hindi cinema, so much so that he now serves on the Central Board of Film Certification and represents Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. What sets Agnihotri apart is his uncompromising commitment to telling stories rooted in real historical events and national discourse—he doesn't shy away from controversy or complexity. His style is journalistic and investigative, treating his narratives like documentaries brought to life on screen. Beyond his fiction films, he's ventured into pure documentary work with projects like The Kashmir Files: Unreported (2024) and The Bengal Files (2025), cementing his evolution as a filmmaker obsessed with uncovering narratives he believes are underreported. While not every project has clicked commercially (The Vaccine War proved divisive), his willingness to tackle polarizing subjects and create art that sparks conversation has made him one of Bollywood's most talked-about contemporary directors.