Director Vivek Agnihotri has responded to the legal actions initiated against his movie The Bengal Files by members of the Trinamool Congress party and accused the West Bengal government of attempting to suppress the film.
He vowed to move forward with the promotion of the movie in the state.
In his video message shared on Instagram, Agnihotri, who is known for making the critically and commercially successful The Kashmir Files, alleged that the TMC has filed several First Information Reports (FIRs) against him and his team.
Agnihotri is currently promoting The Bengal Files in the US.
“I am in USA promoting The Bengal Files. I must tell you, it’s one of the most defining, one of the most important films on Hindu genocide. It uncovers so many dark chapters of our history which some vested interests had covered up for a very long time. But while I am here, the ruling party of West Bengal and their members have been filing so many FIRs against us in different cities, in different thanas,” Agnihotri said in the video message.
“I have great faith in Indian judiciary, especially Calcutta High Court and I have a good news to give you. That Calcutta High Court has given a stay on all these FIRs. But as the case was being heard in the High Court, at the same time, they filed more FIRs. I think this is their strategy. The ruling party wants to trap us with so many legal hassles, so many legal battles, so that we cannot focus on the promotion of the film,” the Indian filmmaker said.
Sending out a strong message to the ruling political outfit in the East Indian state, Agnihotri said: “Why do they want to suppress our voice? Why they don’t want this dark chapter of Indian history, of the past, and of the present of Murshidabad to come out in public domain? Are they against me? Are they against the film? Or are they against the truth?”
Agnihotri said his team did not get permission to shoot the movie in West Bengal.
“We were not allowed to shoot in Bengal. We had to shoot the entire film in Bombay. Now, with our limited resources, we want this film to reach every citizen of India, especially the young people,” he said.
Directed by Agnihotri, The Bengal Files is the third and final instalment in Agnihotri’s Files Trilogy based on modern Indian history, following The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). The film is based on the 1946 Great Calcutta killings.
The film will be released in two parts, the first titled The Bengal Files: Right to Life, scheduled to be released on 5 September 2025.
