Controversy mars trailer launch of ‘Bengal Files'
Trinamool Congress immediately questioned why the "political video-maker had mortgaged his vivek (conscience) to BJP" and dared him to show some spine and shoot 'Godhra Files' and 'Manipur Files'.
The controversy was triggered on Friday, and continued till Saturday, with Agnihotri claiming that a multiplex cancelled the scheduled trailer launch at the last minute. The director said that he made alternative arrangement by booking the banquet hall of a private hotel, but even there, attempts were made by the hotel to stall the trailer launch twice, once even by cutting wires and disrupting power supply.
He also claimed that cops had tried to stop the trailer launch.
However, despite alleged disruptions, the trailer was screened at the hotel.
A source at the hotel said police had stopped the screening and it did not have any role to play. A spokesperson of ITC Royal Bengal said : "We have extended full cooperation and all relevant information has been shared with the authorities who are investigating the matter." Police, however, said that a team had gone to the hotel to check whether "necessary permissions" were in place for public film screening.
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Speaking to reporters, Agnihotri said, "It has happened in front of you — the trailer launch of a CBFC-approved movie was stopped. This is anarchy, dictatorship. Police had come to stop us... cops are being used in Bengal to serve some people's political ambitions. The film talks about demography change.... they don't want to show this because the state itself empowers demography change. I cannot be silenced."
Actor Pallavi Joshi also said, "I absolutely did not like the way my film was stopped. Is there freedom of expression in this state?"
In response, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "To start with, this is not a movie.
It is a political video made as part of a pre-election political assignment. Vivek Agnihotri has mortgaged his vivek to BJP. What stops him from making 'Godhra Files'? Many people died there. Why does not the name Bilkis Bano shake his cinematic conscience? Why not make 'Manipur Files'? An entire state has been burning for two years, and there are bunkers in the CM home.
Or maybe 'Uttar Pradesh Files' based on Unnao and Hathras.
Where is his spine? We will call him a filmmaker when he shows that spine, else he is a political video-maker."
Ghosh added: "It is not our place to question what permissions he took from the hotel, or police today. We will not speak on it. But it is perplexing to see Vivek Agnihotri speak on cinema, morality and ethics. He has come here to defame Bengal. In multiple indexes — according to central govt data — Bengal is outperforming several BJP-governed states. But these issues are lost on people who come blinded with their single political agenda to stoke communal flames.
"
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