Truth Cannot Be Silenced: Vivek Agnihotri’s Vow After ‘The Bengal Files’ Trailer Launch Canceled In Kolkata

Recently, filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri encountered a big setback in regard to his upcoming film The Bengal Files when the place of the trailer launch in Kolkata was suddenly called off. Agnihotri, who was in the city with his team to execute the event planned on August 16, posted his anger on social media on who wanted to stop their voice and why. He claimed that the decision to cancel was on political pressure to the cinema chain although he had all the required permissions.

The film falls under a group of three films called Files by Agnihotri that consists of The Tashkent Files and the much talked about The Kashmir Files. The founding of the film due to that has created a new controversy around the film that is an exploration of the carnage that took place in Direct Action Day and Great Calcutta killings of 1946. Agnihotri has claimed to release the trailer in Kolkata, saying it is not possible to silence the truth even after the hiccup.

Political Pressure and Censorship Allegations

The cancellation of the Bengal Files trailer launch at the eleventh hour has caused political pressures to be widely levied. Agnihotri and his group say they obtained all the necessary permissions and agreed to the venue, but it was all of a sudden denied with unofficial reports indicating fears of political unrest.

This is not the first hitch that the film has been encountering; there have been several FIRs registered against the film earlier against the director and the producers citing that the film has the potential to create communal disharmony. The Calcutta High Court had at one point put an interim stay on these FIRs but the controversies are not getting any less. Agnihotri has come out with a forceful opposition to these efforts to nail the film on shutdown citing Agnihotri this is a historical account presenting a suppressed part of Indian history.

Historical Context and Film’s Purpose

The Bengal Files is a film about the terrible crime committed during the 1946 Direct Action Day or as it is so famously referred, the Great Calcutta Killings and what transpired after that, i.e. the Noakhali riots.

According to Agnihotri, the film with Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi and Darshan Kumar attempts to highlight what he sees as a Hindu genocide that he believes has received little exposure. Producer of the film had an aim by selecting the day when the Direct Action Day was being commemorated to release the trailer.

The makers of this film share the sense of responsibility stating that they need to raise this bitter truth before the people, more than ever to the youth who might not have known about such historical evils that had such a great impact on the partition of India.

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