Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has warned that he will take legal action if his upcoming film The Bengal Files is prevented from releasing in West Bengal. His statement came after the film’s trailer launch in Kolkata faced multiple disruptions. First, a multiplex cancelled the event, then power went out at the hotel where it was shifted, and finally, the police arrived to question whether the organizers had the required permissions. The film, which is set to release on September 5, focuses on the Calcutta riots of August 16, 1946, sparked by the Muslim League’s call for “Direct Action Day.”
Addressing the controversy around Gopal Chandra Mukherjee whose grandson has filed a case alleging the film wrongly portrays his grandfather Agnihotri clarified that the character shown is only “inspired” and not the central figure in the story. He stressed that his intention was not to distort history, adding that the film shows only what Mukherjee himself said in an old BBC interview. “I have nothing to do with his personal life or politics. I have shown him as a hero,” the director explained, while also hinting that political pressure may be behind the objections raised.
Agnihotri described The Bengal Files as part of his effort to bring forward “untold stories of India.” He said his work is focused on Hindu civilization and history, and that he does not attempt to make films on Islamic or Christian history. Framing the controversy as an attempt to suppress free expression, he added that if the West Bengal government tries to block the release, he will challenge it legally, hoping that “sanity prevails” and the film reaches audiences as planned.
