What is The Bengal Files controversy? Vivek Agnihotri breaks silence on FIR, says ‘Gopal Mukherjee is…’

The Bengal Files director Vivek Agnihotri breaks the silence after a new FIR has been registered against him on charges of “wrongfully” describing freedom fighter Gopal Chandra Mukherjee a.k.a Gopal Patha “as a butcher”, in the recently released movie trailer. Gopal Mukherjee’s grandson, Santana Mukherjee, who has registered the fresh FIR, stated that they have taken exception to the movie portraying his grandfather without the prior permission of the family members.

Reacting to the latest FIR against him, Vivek Agnihotri stated at a press conference for the film in Delhi that he would respond to Santana legally. Agnihotri further said he has done full justice to the portrayal of Patha who is celebrated for playing a key role in the Hindu resistance during the 1946 Calcutta Killings.

However, denying the allegations, Agnihotri said he had portrayed Mukherjee as the hero that he was. At the press conference for the film in Delhi on Monday, the filmmaker said that while he would answer Santana Mukherjee legally, he has done full justice to the portrayal of the man who is celebrated for playing a key role in the Hindu resistance during the 1946 Calcutta Killings. “Gopal Mukherjee was a hero. I have shown him as a hero in the film. I have taken a bit from his interview with the BBC, and taken what he said verbatim. I am aware that the people of Bengal regard him as a hero, and that is how I have portrayed him,” he said.

Vivek Agnihotri revealed that he was supposed to inaugurate Gopal Chandra Mukherjee’s idol the other day, but after the events of the trailer launch, he couldn’t perform. “I have a lot of respect for him,” he said.

Santana’s FIR against Vivek Agnihotri is an act done under political pressure

Vivek Agnihotri said Santana Mukherjee had filed an FIR against him and the team of The Bengal Files because he was “forced” to do so. “His grandson, Santana, works with the TMC (Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress) and he is doing what is compulsory for him… you know what the politics of Bengal is like. He is being forced to do what he is doing. We will answer him legally,” he concluded.

What did Santana Mukherjee say?

Gopal Patha’s grandson had said, “Secondly, we take strong objection to describing our grandfather as ‘a butcher’ in the movie. Besides being a part of the freedom-fighters’ group, ‘Anushilon Samity’, my grandfather owned two goat-meat shops. He was a wrestler. He took to arms to protect people from the communal violence unleashed by the Muslim League in Kolkata in 1946”.

On July 31, Agnihotri and his wife Pallavi Joshi approached a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court seeking dismissal of two other FIRs filed against ‘The Bengal Files’.

An FIR was registered against the movie in Murshidabad district soon after the teaser campaign for the movie was released.

Later, another FIR was also registered at Lake Town Police in Kolkata. The main accusation in the FIR was that the movie might contain some sensitive matter that may hamper the communal harmony in the state.

(With agency inputs)

News