"Wanted to showcase India's scientific achievement on world stage": Vivek Agnihotri on screening of 'The Vaccine War' in US
Aug 28, 2023
By Reena Bhardwaj
Maryland [US], August 29 : With his upcoming film 'The Vaccine War', filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has paid tribute to Indian scientists and doctors for crafting a successful Covid-19 vaccine.
Before the release of 'The Vaccine War' in India in September, special screenings of the film have been conducted in the US under the India for Humanity Tour.
Speaking about the film's screening in the US, Agnihotri told ANI, "I wanted to showcase this great scientific achievement of India on the world stage. India and the US collaborated and there was this mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries, and we have worked a lot towards helping lots of underdeveloped countries. So I thought it was very important since this (US) was the hub when COVID was happening. The whole world was looking at the USA with optimism, and India played that role as a democracy. So I thought it's good to start from here (US) and showcase it to people and get their reactions and then go and release it in India."
'The Vaccine War' will narrate the tale of the triumph of scientists and 130 crore people who fought the battle in the Covid-19 era.
Agnihotri unveiled the film's teaser on social media earlier this month.
The brief teaser gave a glimpse of the activities of scientists involved with the BBV152 vaccine, also known as Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Virology.
As per Agnihotri, 'The Vaccine War' is a pure science victory film.
"The film is a story of how our women and scientists got locked inside labs and sacrificed everything in order to make the vaccine. I wanted the younger generation to see a pure science victory film..so, therefore, we did not spend much time on Covid management and frontline workers, we focussed more on the science and the vaccine," he shared.
Actors like Nana Patekar, Anupam Kher and Pallavi Joshi headline the film.
