No, Vivek Agnihotri Isn't Donating Rs 200 Cr From 'The Kashmir Files' Earnings

There is no official confirmation from either Agnihotri or Pallavi Joshi about donating the money.

Fact-Check | The claim states that Vivek Agnihotri donated Rs 200 crore from The Kashmir Files' earnings to the PM's relief fund.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A photo of director Vivek Agnihotri, actor/producer Pallavi Joshi, and producer Abhishek Agarwal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral on social media with a claim that says Agnihotri has donated Rs 200 crore to the PM's relief fund from the earnings of his film 'The Kashmir Files'.

The claim also states that the donation would be used for the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits.

The movie The Kashmir Files has made around Rs 250 crore at the box office. The movie directed by Agnihotri was released in the theatres on 11 March and is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus during the insurgency in 1990.

However, there is no confirmation on the director donating Rs 200 crore to the PM's relief fund from the revenue of the film.

CLAIM

The claim that is being shared reads, "The Kashmir Files के निर्माता विवेक अग्निहोत्री ने अपना वादा पूरा करते हुए 200 करोड़ का चेक प्रधानमंत्री राहत कोष के लिए मोदी जी को सौंपा। इस पैसे का इस्तेमाल कश्मीरी पंडितों के लिए किया जाएगा।"

(Translation: Keeping his promise, Vivek Agnihotri, the director of The Kashmir Files, handed over a cheque of Rs 200 crore to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. This money will be used for the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits.)

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The claim is being shared widely on Facebook and Twitter. Several other archived posts can be viewed here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The Quint could not find any reports about Agnihotri donating any sum of money earned from his film, The Kashmir Files, to the PM's relief fund.

The film has collected Rs 250 crore at the box office to date, according to reports.

On conducting a keyword search on Google using 'Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi donating The Kashmir Files earnings', we came across a video interview of his with radio and television host Siddharth Kannan published on 26 March.

On being questioned about donating the earnings from the movie to the Kashmiri Pandit community, Agnihotri said that they had been helping the community for the past few years but never publicised it.

At the 5:55 mark, Joshi, who was also part of the interview, stated that she found it vulgar when people asked them how many crores of the movie's earnings they would donate to help the Kashmiri Pandits.

"This is a very vulgar question for people to ask because the film already has 4 producers. Who gets how much is very long-drawn mathematics. Also, whenever any producer makes money out of any film, they obviously put it to make more projects."

Pallavi Joshi, actor/producer

We also came across an article on the Hindi news channel, Aaj Tak, where Agnihotri's team had clarified that the claim was a mere rumour.

WHERE IS THE PHOTO FROM?

The claim was being shared with a photo showing Agnihotri, Joshi, and Agarwal with Modi.

This photo was shared by the producer on Twitter on 12 March, a day after The Kashmir Files' release.

The producer of The Kashmir Files tweeted the images with PM Modi.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Evidently, the claim of Vivek Agnihotri donating Rs 200 crore to the PM's relief fund for the welfare of Kashmiri Pandits is untrue.

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