Kolkata: ‘Bengal Files' trailer launch disrupted; director alleges dictatorship
'All the (media) cameras have captured how a Central Board of Film Certification-approved film's trailer was stopped. We have got all the permissions. It was being screened in a private place (hotel banquet). This is anarchy, this is dictatorship, this is fascism,' Agnihotri told the media.
The trailer was scheduled to be launched in a leading multiplex in Kolkata. On Friday Agnihotri alleged that the event was cancelled. The film's team then decided to launch it in a hotel on Saturday.
'Just landed in Kolkata and learnt that the venue for the trailer launch of #TheBengalFiles is cancelled. Who wants to suppress our voice? And why?' Agnihotri wrote on X on Friday.
On Saturday when the trailer was being launched, the event was stopped mid-way. Agnihotri could be seen arguing with officials of the Kolkata Police.
'The trailer was stopped by the police due to political pressure. Why is the voice of the filmmaker being stifled? Ask him why it was stopped,' Agnihotri told media persons while pointing towards an officer of the Kolkata Police.
The police officer didn't reply to questions posed by the media saying that his seniors in Kolkata Police would comment.
Meeraj Khalid, joint commissioner of police (headquarters) didn't respond to calls and messages.
Written and directed by Agnihotri, the film focuses on the events of the Direct-Action Day and the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings. It is scheduled for release on September 5. The cast features Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar and Pallavi Joshi among others.
His earlier film The Kashmir Files also stoked controversy in 2022.
Earlier this month, Agnihotri had said in a post on X that the West Bengal government filed multiple FIRs against him and the film. The Calcutta high court, however, put an interim stay on the FIRs.
'Multiple FIRs have been filed against me by the West Bengal govt for making #TheBengalFiles. The Hon'ble High Court has stayed them. Why do they want to silence us? Why are they so scared of the truth? I will not be silenced,' he wrote on X on August 5.
The incident, however, triggered a political row between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its arch rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
'In the land of the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, West Bengal has once again witnessed a shameful episode that shatters every limit of democratic decency. Words are simply inadequate to condemn what has just taken place,' Sukanta Majumdar, union minister and state BJP president wrote on X.
'This is not merely disgraceful—it is yet another chilling reminder of how Bengal today is being ruled under jungle-raj, anarchy, and authoritarian arrogance, intoxicated with the politics of appeasement. I strongly and unequivocally condemn this despicable act. Today, not only Bengal but the entire nation has seen how a filmmaker and his team of artists were insulted and humiliated in broad daylight,' he added.
'Earlier a film named The Kashmir Files was launched and BJP lost the assembly elections there. Now they are making The Bengal Files. People of the state are not interested in such films. They know it very well and that's why they are creating a ruckus to get media attention,' Debangshu Bhattacharya, TMC state spokesperson told the media.
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