KOLKATA: The trailer launch of filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s movie, “The Bengal Files”, focusing on the historical events of Direct Action Day in 1946, was disrupted in Kolkata on Saturday, by the Kolkata Police. The film is based on the 1946 Calcutta Riots in which hundreds of Hindus were massacred.
The movie features Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi and Darshan Kumar in pivotal roles. Earlier in the day, a prominent cinema exhibition chain had announced the cancellation of the bookings for the film, which is slated for release on 5 September. Chaos ensued at a banquet hall of the ITC Royal Bengal hotel on Saturday afternoon as a posse of police personnel from the adjoining Pragati Maidan police station and Lalbazar Police Headquarters walked in even as the trailer was being screened.
A senior Kolkata Police officer got on the stage and stopped the trailer launch. Police personnel in plain clothes seized the laptop from which the trailer was being run and walked out of the banquet hall. At one point, director Agnihotri was seen arguing with Kolkata Police personnel who wanted to see the “permission from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation”, though it was not clear why such permission would be necessary in a private event.
Amid the chaos in the room, Agnihotri stood on the stage and said: “This is Bengal. Everything happens here with the direction of some invisible fingers. The truth is not allowed to be shown.” In response to a question from journalists, Agnihotri said that he would not care if he was arrested. Though he was not arrested, by then the director and his actressproducer wife Pallavi Joshi were surrounded by the police. After that, they were taken out of the hotel under tight security.
“The electricity connection to the room has been cut for no reason. A lot of police have gathered here since morning. We are not thieves and robbers. We make films. I did not imagine that we would have to face such a situation in Satyajit Ray’s land. If this is not dictator ship, then what is it? If this is not fascism, then what is it?” Agnihotri said. Agnihotri questioned whether India had two Constitutions: one for the nation and one for West Bengal. Unfazed, he promised supporters that the trailer would still be released shortly in Kolkata.
Vivek Agnihotri said: “This is my first time that I have to launch the trailer of a film in a banquet hall like this. Our entire team had come here, after that it got cancelled. I don’t know what they are afraid of. Why do they want to stop this film? Why do they want to suppress my voice? And a film which has got a CBFC certificate, which has been shown in 12 cities in America, that film is about Bengal.” He said that in fact, the Government of Bengal should have called him and told him to do it here because this film is about the people of Kolkata, who suffered on Direct Action Day. “I don’t know what they are afraid of. What is in their mind is that they want to suppress our voice. But I will not let this happen”, he shared. “If this is not dictatorship, then what is it called?”, he added.
Producer Abhishesk Agarwal said: “The film’s trailer was supposed to be launched today, but it was stopped midway. At the time of Kashmir Files, nothing like this ever happened.” Taking to X, Agnihotri posted: “With anguish I inform you: Today West Bengal police, on orders of ‘top authorities’, illegally stopped the trailer of #TheBengalFiles. First theatres, now even a private hotel. Who fears the truth of Hindu genocide? And why? Democracy is dead in Tagore & Vivekananda’s land.”
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh hit back: “Vivek Agnihotri is doing drama. In the name of films, he is doing politically motivated propaganda and trying to divide people. Why has he not made ‘Gujarat Files’ and shown what happened to Bilkis? Why has ‘UP Files’ or ‘MP Files’ or even ‘Manipur Files’ not been made? He has come to Bengal to malign Bengal; he should be thrown out of Bengal, but because there is democracy here, he is still here.” Further hitting out at Agnihotri, Ghosh said:
“How dare he take Satyajit Ray’s name? He is coming to his land and trying to create a divide. Vivek Agnihotri is a puppet of the BJP who is constantly trying to malign Bengal and its people. He should show the development of Bengal that would be a model for the entire nation.” BJP Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar condemned the cancellation of the trailer launch event. Taking to social media, he said, “In the land of the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, West Bengal has once again witnessed a shameful episode that shatters every limit of democratic decency… Renowned director @vivekagnihotri Ji had arrived in Kolkata to launch the trailer of his upcoming film ‘The Bengal Files’.
Shockingly, the event was abruptly cancelled, with a theatre chain openly admitting that it was acting under ‘political pressure.’ Undeterred, when he and his team attempted to hold the launch at a private hotel, that too was brazenly sabotaged! The director himself alleged that the electrical wires were deliberately cut, while the subservient Kolkata Police were disgracefully deployed to disrupt a private event.”
Trinamool Congress IT cell chief Debangshu Bhattacharya hit back at the allegations. “If any hall does not want to show such content, then it is the decision of that hall. The Trinamool Congress has not asked the hall not to show the trailer. The director should provide proof of such allegations,” he countered. Meanwhile, a complaint was filed at Lake Town police station against Agnihotri and producers Pallavi Joshi and Abhishek Agarwal.
A case was filed in the Calcutta High Court demanding the dismissal of the FIR. However, the court issued an interim stay order on it on Monday. Justice Jay Sengupta has issued a stay order on the FIR till August 26. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on August 19. “The Bengal Files” is set to be released in theatres on 5 September. The political drama is the last instalment in Agnihotri’s “Files Trilogy”, which also includes “The Tashkent Files” (2019) and “The Kashmir Files” (2022).
