Vivek Agnihotri says Bollywood stars are 'uneducated, dumb': 'I am far more intelligent'

livemint.com:

Hindi film industry. From making contentious comments about Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, and director Karan Johar to dissing the film industry altogether, Vivek Agnihotri has in his latest outburst called all the stars he worked with in Bollywood ‘dumb’. Vivek Agnihotri, whose The Kashmir Files won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration in the 69th National Film Awards held on 24 August, in a podcast claimed that he is ‘far more intelligent’ than all the stars he worked with.

Notably, Vivek Agnihotri in his filmmaking career spanning decades has worked with three times National Award winner and his wife Pallavi Joshi. He has also worked with extremely acclaimed actor like Anupam Kher. Agnihotri made his directorial debut with the crime thriller Chocolate (2005), a a remake of the 1995 Hollywood neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects, and has directed multiple films since which failed to propel his career forward.

In the podcast Unscripted, Agnihotri was heard saying, “I am not saying it arrogantly, but rather I am telling the truth. I started feeling that the stars I work with, are not educated and have no idea about the world. I am far more intelligent than them and my worldview is definitely better than theirs.

So their dumbness was pulling me down. They are so dumb that they pull you down with them." Agnihotri further emphasised on how these ‘dumb’ celebrities impacted his career negatively, ultimately causing him to contemplate a mental retirement from the industry. Further, according to a report on The Indian Express, The Kashmir Files director said, “Why is Indian cinema so dumb? Bollywood films are dumb because of their stars.