The trailer launch of Vivek Agnihotri‘s upcoming political thriller, The Bengal Files, was an eventful affair. First, the filmmaker said the trailer launch had to be postponed after a cinema chain in Kolkata withdrew permissions. Then, when it was held the following day at a hotel in the city, protesters disrupted it. Pallavi Joshi, Vivek’s wife and the film’s co-producer, talks about the sentiment against the film and calls it politically motivated.
‘Never thought police would be sent’
In a chat with Hindustan Times, Pallavi expresses surprise at the opposition they met in Kolkata. “We don’t live in a fool’s paradise. So we knew that resistance hoga,” she says, adding, “But honestly, I hadn’t thought the police would be sent. Like Vivek also said, ‘hum chor hain kya (are we thieves).'”
The actor equates the interruption of their trailer to assault, and says, “For somebody to come and pull the plugs and just stop the trailer midway. It’s an assault. I’m very deeply hurt as a creative person, as an artist.”
‘They are scared of something’
The Bengal Files explores the communal violence in undivided Bengal during the 1940s, including events like the 1946 Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots. The film met opposition in West Bengal, with Agnihotri claiming that members of the ruling party (Trinamool Congress) had filed FIRS against him and the producers.
Pallavi believes that the opposition, which she calls politically motivated, is because the film ‘has touched some raw nerve’. She explains, “Even without seeing the film, if people are just jumping to conclusions, then first of all, it’s wrong to do that. But the reason why people react the way they react is because they are scared of something. When you make films of history, and when you talk about a failure of a system in a particular place, it rattles people. Then the politicians suddenly come into the picture.”
About The Bengal Files
The Bengal Files stars Darshan Kumar, Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Sourav Das, Simrat Kaur, Rajesh Khera, and Pallavi. It will be released in theatres on 5 September.
