Vivek Agnihotri on 'The Vaccine War' clash with Prabhas' 'Salaar': 'Prabhas' fans abused me'

Vivek Agnihotri's The Vaccine War is all set for a September 28 release. Earlier, this bio-science drama was set to clash at the box-office with Prabhas' Salaar. In a recent interview with The New Indian Express, the filmmaker spoke about the earlier clash of his film with 'Salaar' and how they were the ones that ran away.He said, "The Vaccine War is a small film with no stars, made at ₹12.5 crore budget. Another film, Salaar, was coming. A huge ₹300 crore film. Their fans were abusing, trolling me, isko bhagao, nahi aana chaiye… Bhaag koi aur gaya (Get him away from here, he should not come here. Why is he here).. But it was someone else who ran away."On I.N.D.I.AIn a conversation with Deccan Herald, when asked about the newly formed I.N.D.I.A alliance, Agnihotri didn’t mince his words.He said, “They are a bunch of jokers that have come together to do a circus. But a circus is never permanent.”He added, “Any relationship that is born out of greed cannot last. All these people oppose each other in every state. Congress is against TMC, they are against DMK and somewhere, they are against any other party.”“All of them issued a resolution boycotting some journalists. Now, Nitish said no, ‘I have nothing to do with it’. Akhilesh said ‘why should I suffer because of Congress?’ We will go to all the journalists. Now Congress has been forced to take it back saying, it’s not a boycott. It’s a non-cooperation,” he explained.When asked if the entry of I.N.D.I.A would change the dynamics of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said, “Every circus ends after a couple of months. This circus will also end in a few months.”On a message by Javed AkhtarAgnihotri, in an interview with Galata Plus’ Baradwaj Rangan, talked about the promotions of the film at Times Square and veteran writer and lyricist’s Javed Akhtar’s reaction to it.He took out his phone and read the message that Akhtar sent to the filmmaker. It read- “Vivek sahab, this is a hymn from Rig Veda which I have recently read. One’s heart fills with pride that one is born in the land of such philosophers who many millennium ago could look at the universe like a grand master would look at a chessboard and imagine all the possible moves. I am really moved and overjoyed.”