"Decision of the hall owners": TMC's Kunal Ghosh on alleged "unofficial ban" on 'The Bengal Files'

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 6 (ANI): As actor-producer Pallavi Joshi alleged an “unofficial ban” on ‘The Bengal Files’ in West Bengal, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that the decision not to screen the film is of the cinema hall owners.

Ghosh said that some cinema hall owners have decided not to participate in “fact-less propaganda”.

Slamming director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, he said, “This is a democratic state. This is the decision of the hall owners. If someone decides not to participate in fact-less propaganda, that is their decision. The government and the party have no connection with this. Vivek’s conscience is a selective conscience.”

This comes after actor-producer Pallavi Joshi wrote a letter to President Droupadi Murmu seeking help for the peaceful release of ‘The Bengal Files’ in West Bengal and alleged and “unofficial ban” on the film’s release in the state.

Set to release in theatres on September 5, Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Bengal Files’ explores the communal violence that took place in undivided Bengal during the 1940s, including the events of the Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots of 1946.

Speaking to ANI, Agnihotri shared, “It is unfortunate that the film, which is made on the history of Bengal, on the pain and glory of Bengal, on the women of Bengal, and the same film is not being released there. Mere distributors ne bataya ki police direct phone karke bol rahi hai jo multiplex network hai unko ki agar film release ki to unhe direct consequences bhugatne padenge(My distributors told me that the police are directly calling the multiplex networks and telling them that if the film is released, then they will have to face direct consequences)…”

West Bengal Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya also claimed that the state government has not pressured the film distributors.

“If the distributors were actually pressured, they would have spoken up about it… This is nothing but to malign the special state in various ways,” she told the reporters.

Amid the row, Arijit Dutta, MD of Priya Entertainments Private Limited, said that he does not have slots available for ‘The Bengal Files’.

Arijit Dutta told ANI, “I have a single screen with four shows. I screen mostly Bengali films and one film from a regular distributor. I had no slot available for this film. I had all four shows blocked.”

Meanwhile, Bengali actor and BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh stated that the governments of West Bengal and Pakistan are attempting to evade the truth.

“It is very sad that this film has not been able to release in Pakistan and West Bengal. This means that the people who are governing Pakistan want to avoid this bitter truth, and those who are governing West Bengal are also avoiding the truth. This is what can be seen. The bitter truth of 1946 was suppressed and hidden time and again. All the governments that have been formed thereafter want to hide the history of Bengal from everyone,” he said. (ANI)

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