New Delhi: The makers of The Bengal Files have written a letter to President Draupadi Murmu, seeking protection from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress supporters who are allegedly threatening exhibitors from screening the film in West Bengal. They have alleged their film is facing an “unofficial ban” in the state.
Directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the film, slated to be released on Friday, is based on the events of the Direct Action Day, which took place in August 1946 in Calcutta, the Noakhali riots of 1946, and the 1905 partition of Bengal.
“With a heavy heart, I reach out to you, not for favours, but for protection,” Pallavi Joshi, the producer of the film, wrote in the letter.
Joshi, who also plays the role of Maa Bharati in the film, accused the Trinamool Congress of threatening exhibitors to prevent them from screening the film in the state.
Earlier, the police stopped the film’s trailer launch event in Kolkata citing lack of permission.
“Years before its completion, the Chief Minister mocked the film. Since then, baseless FIRs have been filed, our trailer was blocked by the police, and even newspapers avoid carrying ads,” wrote Joshi.
The Bengal Files features Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, Saswata Chatterjee, and Darshan Kumar, among others.
“You are my final hope. Please protect our constitutional right and let The Bengal Files be shown in West Bengal peacefully,” Joshi wrote, while tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Information and Broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the post.
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Mired in controversy
The Bengal Files is the third and final part of Agnihotri’s ‘Files’ trilogy, which includes The Kashmir Files (2022) and The Tashkent Files (2019).
Meanwhile, Shantanu Mukherjee, the grandson of Gopal Mukherjee, popularly known as ‘Gopal Patha’, a key figure during the Great Calcutta Killings of August 1946, has moved the Calcutta High Court demanding a stay on the release of the movie.
Mukherjee had earlier sent a legal notice to Vivek Agnihotri, demanding an apology for the alleged distortion of his grandfather’s character
Sourav Das, who plays Gopal Patha in the film, distanced himself from the row over the film.
Saswata Chatterjee, who plays the antagonist Sardar Husseini in the film, also addressed the controversy. “I am just an actor. I liked a character and I played it. I am not a historian to think about what history says and this is distorting history. It’s not my job. People who feel that Bengal is being belittled, then they can go to court with the information. There is no point is just making noise,” said the actor in an interview with The Wall News.
The Bengal Files has so far sold 6,641 tickets in advance booking in other states of India, collecting Rs 19.13 lakhs.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)