Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has said that the producers of his film, The Bengal Files, are planning to take legal action after claiming that the West Bengal government and police officials are threatening theatre owners not to screen his film in the state.

Vivek on The Bengal Files release

The film revisits the communal riots of August 1946 in Kolkata (then Calcutta) known as the Direct Action Day. The divisive film has already seen its share of controversies with its trailer launch in the state capital being disrupted, and at least two Bengali actors distancing themselves from the film.

The Bengal Files is releasing this Friday. Ahead of the release, the filmmaker told reporters in Mumbai, “Whatever the West Bengal government is doing is illegal and unconstitutional. We are planning to file a writ petition, but will decide based on what happens tomorrow, and accordingly, we will take legal action.”

‘Theatre owners being threatened’

The filmmaker claimed that he is getting feedback from theatre owners in West Bengal that they were being threatened not to go ahead with the screening. “A lot of theatre owners, including the leading multiplex chains’ officials, have said that the police have been threatening them of dire consequences if they release the film. They are like, ‘What will we do if they barge in and destroy our property?’” he said.

The filmmaker’s wife and co-producer Pallavi Joshi, who also features in the film, has appealed to President Droupadi Murmu, seeking intervention in the matter. Agnihotri says the film has been dubbed in Bengali “because lakhs of Bengali people want to watch it.”

About The Bengal Files

The Bengal Files is the concluding chapter in Agnihotri’s The Files trilogy after The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Saswata Chatterjee and Darshan Kumarr.