Aditya Dhar THUNDERS at Article 370 trailer launch: “I DON’T CARE about those who call my films propaganda. The downfall of agenda-driven critics happened with Uri”

By Fenil Seta -

February 8, 2024 - 4:41 PM IST

Aditya Dhar made a solid debut with the Vicky Kaushal-starrer Uri – The Surgical Strike (2019). He’s now back with Article 370, produced by him and his brother Lokesh Dhar. Incidentally, Uri – The Surgical Strike was released a few months before the general elections and Article 370 will also follow suit. At the trailer launch of the latter today, Aditya Dhar was asked about it and whether he feels that it’s unfair that his films are being labelled as ‘propaganda’.

Aditya Dhar THUNDERS at Article 370 trailer launch: “I DON’T CARE about those who call my films propaganda. The downfall of agenda-driven critics happened with Uri”

Aditya Dhar replied, “People who label it as propaganda, I don’t care about them. It is as simple as that. I know where it’s coming from. The Indian audience is actually very, very smart. They know ki kaunsi film propaganda hai aur kaunsi film ka intent correct hai. Until I am a director or a producer, the intent will always be right. The day the intent is wrong, I’ll stop making films. I don’t care what people say, especially the agenda-driven critics. It’s my observation and I might be absolutely wrong, but I always thought that the downfall of agenda-driven critics happened with Uri – The Surgical Strike. While they said such bad things about Uri, the audience just thronged to the theatres. The audience doesn’t care about their political agenda and how they are presenting their reviews. They only care about the intent of the filmmaker.”

Aditya Dhar continued, “We have so many examples. We know that the intent of Vidhu Vinod Chopra behind 12th Fail (2023) was to make a great film. Aap usko kaisa bhi review de do, it doesn’t matter. The audience will still go and see it. With Yami, all her films in the last 4-5 years have been brilliant and were hits as the intent was correct. Hence, I don’t care about such critics. The propaganda is in their head which is making them view (the film in such a perspective). Article 370 is an India-centric film. It’s an event which literally brought India together. It made India one, which hadn’t happened in 70 years. It’s one of the best stories that I have ever heard.”

Aditya then revealed, “When we were researching for the film, we came across (such great tales). Yami’s character is inspired by a real-life woman who pulled it off. Priyamani’s character is inspired by real people sitting in the PMO and how they figured out the whole thing. The brilliant bit was that there were hundreds of people involved and nobody leaked even a single piece of information.”

Also Read: Yami Gautam and Aditya Dhar confirm pregnancy at Article 370 trailer launch; actress flaunts her baby bump; watch video