Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has warned that he will pursue legal recourse if the release of his film The Bengal Files is prohibited in West Bengal. This statement came during a press conference following the disruption of the film’s trailer launch in Kolkata.
Vivek Agnihotri warns of legal action if The Bengal Files release is blocked in West Bengal
Scheduled to hit theatres on September 5, The Bengal Files delves into the Calcutta riots of August 16, 1946, triggered by the All-India Muslim League’s call for “Direct Action Day” .
Agnihotri recounted the series of setbacks faced during the trailer launch: it was initially cancelled by a multiplex, then shifted to a hotel where the power suddenly went out, and police eventually intervened to inquire whether proper permissions had been obtained .
“We will go by the Constitution. We will go legally. If they stop us, we will take the legal course. What can we do? We are common citizens like you… We will pray that sanity prevails and the state government does not do it,” said the director, directly challenging the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government over alleged suppression of the film .
Addressing controversy involving Gopal Chandra Mukherjee—whose grandson Santanu Mukherjee has registered an FIR claiming the film portrays his grandfather as a “butcher”—Agnihotri clarified that the character is “an inspired character and not central to the plot.” He added, “I will not go into his history. Watch Santanu’s interview. I can give you all the links. There is an interview of Gopal Mukherjee on BBC. In that interview, what he has said, we have only shown that much. I have nothing to do with Gopal Mukherjee’s life, politics. He was a hero, and I have shown him as a hero.”
He said, “I respect Gopal Mukherjee a lot. His grandsons work with TMC. There is a compulsion there… They have done it legally. We are giving a legal answer to that.”
Agnihotri framed his work as an effort to bring forward “untold stories of India,” explaining: “Our purpose is very clear. I make films on Hindu civilization. That is why I make films on Hindu history. I do not consider myself capable of making films on Islamic history or Christian history.”
More Pages: The Bengal Files Box Office Collection
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