{"id":2301,"date":"2016-07-20T00:31:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T19:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/comment-of-the-week-the-vivek-agnihotri-edition\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:59:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:29:36","slug":"comment-of-the-week-the-vivek-agnihotri-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2301","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Week: The Vivek Agnihotri Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span><\/p><\/div>

nother week, another seven days of frothy action over in the Arr\u00e9 comments section. We\u2019ve never been ones to shy away from a spot of good-natured mudslinging. But between Wednesday\u2019s controversial <\/span>Sadhguru<\/span><\/a> piece, which called out his pseudoscience, and our latest <\/span>#HotTake<\/span><\/a> where we schooled folks on the correct way of being a woke liberal, it\u2019s been more like a horror remake of the <\/span>sludge pit<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>Dum Laga Ke Haisha<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Still, they say, shit floats, and despite some seriously strong contenders this week, one comment rises above the mire. We\u2019ve been truly #blessed to receive public recognition from a national treasure: Shri Vivek Agnihotri. <\/span>\n\nMr Agnihotri took to Twitter to call out an <\/span>article<\/span><\/a> that looked askance at Kangana Ranaut\u2019s recent declaration of patriotism at a News18 conference. The author had pointed out that like many Bollywood celebrities on the promo circuit, Kangana\u2019s newfound nationalism just happens to coincide with her upcoming release of <\/span>Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Kangana is also known for her outspoken feminist views, which couldn\u2019t have endeared her to the fire-starting wet blankets at the RSS. So how did she land up on the same side as those chaps? <\/span>\n\nNaturally, Agnihotri had a nuanced, thoughtful answer to the author\u2019s question that <\/span>squares off<\/span><\/a> with the <\/span>rest<\/span><\/a> of his <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a> feed<\/span><\/a>. \n\n\"\"\n\nThe real problem, Dr Agnihotri diagnosed, was that we at Arr\u00e9 nurture a deep and abiding hatred for our Bharat Mata. He wasn\u2019t the only commenter who took umbrage: Many others wondered why we\u2019d hate on a beloved actor whom <\/span>we\u2019ve<\/span><\/a> covered<\/span><\/a> fondly<\/span><\/a> in the past. <\/span>\n\nIn an age where everything from <\/span>miniskirts<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>momos<\/span><\/a> is polarised between left and right, patriotic and anti-national, it\u2019s tempting to view the world as a war zone and shifting opinions as a sign of weakness. After praising Kangana time and again for both her work and her politics, she\u2019s become a part of \u201cour\u201d battalion, not someone we have the right to throw under the bus. Like Swarajya Mag and the BJP, \u201clibrandu\u201d media and Kangana are supposed to be best buddies. <\/span>\n\nBut letting your clique decide your worldview for you isn\u2019t the function of a media organisation, as much as it is a description of a cult. <\/span>\n\nThere are a couple of things to unpack here. As a living, breathing media outfit, we don\u2019t have a Xenu to worship without question, or a Kangana Ranaut to staunchly defend, whether we agree with her or not. Coming off the heels of <\/span>#MeToo<\/span><\/a>, we’ve seen media outlets all over the world figuratively kill their darlings. Of course, Kangana is no <\/span>Kevin Spacey<\/span><\/a>, but her status as an Arr\u00e9 favourite doesn\u2019t make her, or anyone, untouchable.<\/span>\n\nBesides, criticism of an actor does not constitute hatred, either for her or for the entirety of India, just like your father doesn\u2019t hate you when you score 98 per cent and he asks where the other two per cent has gone. When the fourth pillar of democracy turns into a magnetic pole, all positive and negative with nothing in between, there\u2019s no space for give-and-take discussions that go beyond the binary.<\/span>\n\nAccusations like Mr Agnihotri\u2019s suggest that a media entity should be a glorified fan club, whose chief responsibility is to pick a side and stick to it. Sorry not sorry, Mr Agnihotri. We respectfully disagree. Now if you were trying to reach Republic TV, you\u2019ve got the wrong number. <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Comment of the Week, where we psychoanalyse ourselves and try to understand what people are trying to tell us. Brought to you by Arr\u00e9\u2019s resident psychoanalyst and therapist, Sigmund Fried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":2304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[2588,62,4669,710,4670,2047,1854,4506,4671,4131,3855,1245,3370,4672,3317,4673,4674,4607,3458,291,4675,4676,4677,4629],"class_list":["post-2301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-metoo","tag-arre","tag-comment","tag-feminism","tag-feminist","tag-kangana","tag-kevin-spacey","tag-left","tag-liberal","tag-manikarnika","tag-media","tag-millennials","tag-of","tag-polarise","tag-ranaut","tag-republic","tag-right","tag-sadhguru","tag-the","tag-tv","tag-vivek-angihotri","tag-week","tag-wing","tag-woke"],"yoast_head":"\nComment of the Week: The Vivek Agnihotri Edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welcome to Comment of the Week, where we psychoanalyse ourselves and try to understand what people are trying to tell us. 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