The trailer has the tagline, “If Kashmir hurt you, Bengal will haunt you”, with the makers calling it the “boldest film ever” and a “cinematic masterpiece”. And the drama was expected (if not planned) when the makers wanted to run a trailer preview function in Kolkata inviting the media, which was always going to be cancelled by the West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee.
The film created the desired buzz when on 15 August, India’s Independence Day, Vivek Agnihotri took to social media claiming that the trailer launch event scheduled for the next day was cancelled which he claimed was due to “political pressure”. That theatre chain and other venues in Kolkata, wanted to avoid a “turmoil”.
When the makers shifted the event to a hotel in Kolkata, the West Bengal police intervened and the screening was stopped midway. In a video later released, the filmmaker was seen arguing with the cops. Vivek later told reporters that his “voice is being suppressed in the land of Satyajit Ray”.
Vivek said the police had “illegally stopped” the screening.
“First theatres, now even a private hotel. Who fears the truth of Hindu genocide?” he wrote.
The Bengal Files tells the story of the communal riots which took place during the Direct Action Day in 1946. The All-India Muslim League suddenly announced general strikes as their demand for a separate homeland turned incessantly violent. Beginning on August 16 and also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, the clashes continued for weeks in which, in which between 4,000 to 10,000 Hindus were killed. The riots resulted in large-scale communal violence primarily targeting Hindus in Kolkata killings, with documented reports of widespread looting, arson, rapes, and forced conversions. The event is understood to be a major factor leading to the partition of India and Pakistan.
Is it the depiction of Gopal Mukherjee ‘Patha’?
Critics say the film dramatizes these events with gory, hyper-violent visuals and attempts to sensationalize reality. There is a brief appearance of a local leader, Gopal Mukherjee ‘Patha’, whose portrayal in the trailer has irked his family members. Gopal Patha’s grandson, Shantanu Mukherjee has filed a legal complaint against the makers of the film The Bengal Files. Shantanu Mukherjee, has also registered an FIR and sent a legal notice to filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. The family objects to the portrayal of Gopal Patha in the movie, particularly the depiction of him as a “butcher,” which they claim misrepresents and tarnishes his legacy as a freedom fighter and protector during the 1946 Calcutta riots (Direct Action Day).
Shantanu Mukherjee states that the filmmakers did not seek permission or consult the family and that the portrayal is derogatory and misleading. Vivek Agnihotri, however, defends the film stating it portrays Gopal Patha as a hero and central figure in the Hindu resistance during the riots.
In the trailer, Gopal is shown inciting a crowd with a communal dialogue, ‘Bharat hinduon ka Rashtra hai aur is yudh me Hindu haar rahe hai. Jeet kaun rahan hai? Jinnah. Ham sab nashe me chur hai aur is nashe ka naam hai Gandhi ki ahimsa (India is a country of Hindus and Hindus are losing this battle. Who is winning it? Jinnah. We are all intoxicated, and the name of this intoxication is Gandhi’s non-violence).”’
Gopal is later shown killing people with a knife as saffron-coloured flags appear in the background.
“These nefarious activities of Vivek Agnihotri are wilfully, wantonly and maliciously besmirching the reputation of grandfather, stereotyping him as a communal thug and is aimed at flaring up communal tensions based on baseless depictions of my late grandfather’s historic actions,” wrote Santanu in his legal notice to the filmmaker while demanding an apology for the alleged distortion in the film.
Meanwhile, Vivek spoke to the media in Delhi, saying that the film presents Gopal Mukherjee as a hero.
“I have taken a small bit from his interview with the BBC, and taken what he said verbatim,” said Vivek, while adding that Gopal’s grandsons work with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and have a compulsion to respond in this way.
“They have done it legally. We are giving a legal answer to that,” he said.
Name changed from Delhi Files: The Bengal Chapter
The film was earlier titled Delhi Files: The Bengal Chapter. But it is now named The Bengal Files.
“The film is ultimately telling the story of how the partition took place because of people who sat in Delhi,” Vivek explained and said it was done to avoid confusion.
However, many critics refused to accept this explanation and opine the name change is linked to the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, thus accusing the film of fuelling a political vendetta.
Some members of the ruling TMC say the movie is a “pre-election” assignment video ordered by the BJP head honchos.
Actor and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Mithun Chakraborty who plays a pivotal role in the film, unsurprisingly sided with the filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri during a media interaction.
“Why are they calling it a propaganda film? If you’re making a film to tell the truth, does that become a propaganda tool? This is the problem with so-called secularism and pseudo-intellectualism,” he said.