Rocket sets sofa on fire at Vivek Agnihotri and Pallavi Joshi's home; he deletes post on firecrackers

A rocket fired during Diwali fell directly onto the balcony of the home of Marathi actor Pallavi Joshi and her husband, noted Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri, and set a sofa kept there on fire.

After the incident, Agnihotri wrote a post on the social media platform X questioning the bursting of firecrackers. He deleted it soon afterwards, and has now explained the reason himself.

In the first post, Agnihotri described the accident. Addressing Mumbai's mayor, he wrote: "Dear Mayor Madam, last night the sofa on our balcony caught fire." He said the rocket fell on the sofa and that is what started the fire. Using the incident, he tried to draw the administration's attention to the dangers posed by firecrackers.

In the same post, he made clear that nobody objects to celebrating Diwali. In his view, bursting firecrackers was never part of our culture. He also said our culture does not teach endangering anyone's life or home.

Agnihotri also questioned the administration's responsibility. He wrote that it is the job of the concerned officials to put firm fire-safety arrangements in place, get court orders implemented and spread awareness among people. He demanded an inquiry into fire incidents in Mumbai and that responsibility be fixed wherever negligence is found.

After the post drew attention on social media, Agnihotri deleted it. He then put out another post giving his reason. He wrote: "I am deleting my earlier tweet. I neither want to cause anyone's displeasure, nor do I want to promote or undermine anyone's cultural or environmental narrative." In the same post he again wished everyone a happy Diwali.

The first post drew mixed reactions on social media. Some people backed his view, while others criticised him. As a result, his decision to delete the post has become a talking point along with the sofa fire.