#The Bengal Files# Vivek Agnihotri# The Files Trilogy# Calcutta Killings# Noakhali Riots
IBNS-CMEDIA: Bollywood filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri had a faceoff with Kolkata police during the trailer launch of his upcoming release, The Bengal Files, which is based on 1946 Calcutta Killings and Noakhali riots. Amid the disruption, Agnihotri speaks to the media on the film, which he called the last of his The Files Trilogy based on modern Indian history… IBNS-TWF correspondent Souvik Ghosh reports…
Q. It was told that you didn’t have the permission from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation so the trailer launch event in Kolkata was disrupted. How would you respond to it?
A. How can I respond to such idiotic claims? Was it possible for such a huge setup to be done without permission? Why was it stalled at the last second while the preparations were going on since morning? All permissions were taken. Do you think a five star hotel like ITC will ever allow anything if everything was not in place? This is a ridiculous thing and a total lie. A huge battery of police were even deployed at the hotel premises.
Vivek Agnihotri speaking at the trailer launch.
Q. Why did you choose 1940s communal violence as the topic?
A. It is because I feel the politics that led to the Partition of India is in full swing in Bengal after 78 years and that was evident during the trailer launch, where attempts were made to suppress people’s voice. The Bengal Files is the boldest and most honest film ever made on Hindu genocide. The audiences across 12 American cities watched the film and chanted Joy Maa Kali and Vande Mataram. Every Bengali person said this is the biggest service one could ever do for the glory of Bengal but the voices are suppressed just to appease certain groups. We all have witnessed how the programme was disrupted by police. The cables were even snapped!
Q. Can you be a bit more specific on who is trying to suppress the voices?
A. The ones afraid of the truth are trying to suppress it. And the truth can only be suppressed by people who are in power. Everyone knows who is powerful in West Bengal. I am powerless. People in power and more specifically the one who leads the incumbent are usually powerful. Otherwise how could the trailer launch be disrupted and the cables snapped at a private hotel. Why were we surrounded by a heavy battery of police personnel throughout the day of the trailer launch? Who is filing FIRs against us on a daily basis? When the film was announced, West Bengal Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) had declared she wouldn’t allow the makers to enter into the state. I had sent her a legal notice for violating the Constitution. People are intelligent enough to understand who is trying to suppress the truth.
Q. Do you fear your voice would succumb to power?
A. Has one ever been able to suppress the truth? Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana originated from this land of Bengal. No one can dare or has the guts to suppress my voice.
Q. Do you fear the screening of this film may get banned in West Bengal as it happened even in the past?
A. No one can stop the screening of this film. The people of Bengal will revolt if this film is banned. If at all it is banned, we will move to court and even after that if the film is not allowed to get screened, we will take out processions in every lane and bylanes of Kolkata.
The trailer launch event.
Q. But Bengal is not just Kolkata. Are you planning to go to the length and breadth of the state?
A. We have only dubbed a Bollywood film in Bengali for the state because I wanted people in every corner of Bengal to watch it. The younger generation of Bengal are not aware of the Indic Renaissance. Only a few young people are aware of the fact that Bengal is the only state in the world to be divided thrice, first in 1905, second in 1947 and third in 1971. The disruption of the trailer launch event proves Bengal is now divided for the fourth time at least intellectually and politically, if not geographically.
(Photos: Avishek Mitra/IBNS)
