Trailer launch of controversial film ‘The Bengal Files’ halted in Kolkata; Agnihotri alleges political pressure

Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri faced obstacles in Kolkata during the scheduled trailer launch of his film ‘The Bengal Files,’ which he claims was cancelled due to political pressure. Agnihotri criticised what he described as ‘suppression of artistic expression,’ particularly in light of the film’s focus on ‘Direct Action Day’.

Mumbai: Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who is gearing up for his upcoming directorial ‘The Bengal Files’, hit a roadblock on Saturday in Kolkata.

The special screening of the film at a theatre in Kolkata was halted after the venue for the trailer launch of the film was cancelled.

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Vivek spoke with IANS exclusively with regards to ‘The Bengal Files’ and the issues raised in the release of this movie. He said that he was informed by the organisers that they had to cancel the screening owing to the political pressure in the state.

He told IANS, “Organizers told me that they can’t show it because of political pressure. Then we talked to another multiplex chain. They also told us that there is a lot of political pressure and we will get stuck in a lot of trouble. And that’s why we can’t show it either. So when we didn’t have any option left, where would we go? What would we do? What could be more saddening for a filmmaker than not being able to show his film in a theatre? The thing for which it was made. If someone writes a book and it is not shown in a bookshop, then we don’t have any option”.

August 16, 2025 marks 79 years of the Direct Action Day, when the All-India Muslim League decided to take a “direct action” using general strikes and economic shutdown to demand a separate Muslim homeland after the British exit from India.

Vivek further mentioned, “But my name is Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and I am not one of the losers. So I said, ‘No problem, we will do it in a banquet hall’. This is my first time to launch the trailer of a film in a banquet hall like this. Our entire team had come here, after that it got cancelled. I don’t know what they are afraid of. Why do they want to stop this film? Why do they want to suppress my voice? And a film which has got a CBFC certificate, which has been shown in 12 cities in America, that film is about Bengal”.

He said that in fact, the government of Bengal should have called him and told him to do it there because this film is about the people of Kolkata, who suffered on the Direct Action Day.

“I don’t know what they are afraid of. What is in their mind is that they want to suppress our voice. But I will not let this happen”, he shared.

First the screening was stopped in a multiplex theatre in Kolkata, then an attempt was made to stop the screening of the film in a private hotel in Kolkata. On this Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri said that the most powerful person in the state is obstructing this. The program was stopped while it was going on, the wire was cut.

“If this is not dictatorship, then what is it called?”, he added.