Buddha in a Traffic Jam director wants to cast DU students for his next

Writer-director Vivek Agnihotri opens up about his plans to choose DU students for his upcoming movie based on the Emergency and campus politics.

During his visit to Udaan Utsav, a nukkad natak competition in North Campus, Delhi University (DU), script writer and director Vivek Agnihotri showed up at the event, for he plans to cast some DU students in his upcoming film.

Writer-director Vivek Agnihotri gets candid with HT City.

“In my upcoming film, the emergency period and campus politics plays a major role. I have decided to mentor the final teams of this nukkad natak competition and if possible, I will choose some students for my next project,” says Agnihotri.

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The director is known for his movies like Hate Story (2012), Chocolate (2005), Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2016) and many more. Being a graduate from Indian Institute Mass Communication, Delhi, he feels the Capital’s charm is unmatched.

He says, “Due to my film, I have travelled a lot and visited around 35 to 40 universities. But there is nothing like DU. I am a graduate of Harvard University but even there I could not find the same charm. Whether it’s about students, studies, structure or lifestyle, DU jaisa kuch nahi. And I am not kidding.”

Agnihotri is shocked to know that JNU’s popular Ganga Dhabba might shut down. He says, “I have been to JNU with Anupam Kher during the screening of my film but had not known that. This is sad. We should not promote fast food joints in campuses, because jo dhabe main bethkar chai peene ka maja hai, vo food joints pe nahi hai. I would not prefer the idea of promoting food chains over dhaba culture. Jo bonding dhabo main hoti hai vo alag hai, dhabo ki dosti lambi chalti hai aur vaha ki dushmaniya bhi jaldi hi khatam hoti hai.”

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