The Bengal Files: A Bold Re-Visioning of History or a Controversial Exercise?

The Bengal Files: A Bold Re-Visioning of History or a Controversial Exercise?

Directed and written by Vivek Agnihotri, The Bengal Files is the latest addition to his so-called Files Trilogy, following The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). Released theatrically on 5 September 2025, it seeks to portray some of the most traumatic, and contested, events in Bengal’s history: namely, Direct Action Day (the Great Calcutta Killings of 1946) and the riots of Noakhali. 

Cast, Crew & Technical Aspects

Key Players

Vivek Agnihotri serves as director and writer. 

The cast includes some veteran names: Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Simratt Kaur, Darshan Kumar, Namashi Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee among others. 

Production Details

Runtime is about 204 minutes, making it one of the longer mainstream Indian films. 

The budget is reported to be between ₹30-50 crore depending on source. 

Cinematography by Attar Singh Saini, editing by Shankh Rajadhyaksha, with music by Rohit Sharma. 

What Is The Story?

The film is structured around two layers:

1. Historical layer (1940s Bengal): The film dramatizes the communal upheavals in Bengal—especially Direct Action Day in Calcutta in August 1946, and post-Partition related violence such as Noakhali. It portrays horrific violence and the plight of civilians caught up in communal strife. 

2. Contemporary investigation (2025): There is a parallel thread involving a CBI officer (Shiva Pandit) investigating a case of a missing tribal girl. This storyline is used to connect past events to reverberations in present day. 

The film claims to reveal what it calls “hidden history” of Hindu suffering during those times, and frames these historical events as genocide. 

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Reception, Controversies, and Box Office Performance

Reception & Critique

Critics are mixed. Some praise the film for its emotional weight, performances (notably of Simratt Kaur, Pallavi Joshi) and its courage to deal with painful chapters. 

Others criticize it for historical inaccuracies or distortions, over-indulgence in graphic violence, narrative imbalance, and lack of subtlety in handling communal identities. 

Controversies

The film has been the subject of legal petitions and public debates over its portrayal of historical figures. For example, a petition was filed by the grandson of Gopal Mukherjee (known as Gopal Patha) claiming the film portrayed him in a negative way during the Calcutta Killings. The Calcutta High Court dismissed that petition. 

Theater owners in West Bengal allegedly faced intimidation and pressure not to screen the film. Filmmaker Agnihotri has claimed this constitutes an “unofficial ban”. 

Some international release schedules were reportedly postponed due to censorship in some countries. 

Commercial Outcome

In its first week in India, The Bengal Files earned around ₹11.25 crore. 

Compared to The Kashmir Files, which had an opening week of ~₹97.3 crore, this is significantly lower. 

By Day 11, the revenue had dropped sharply. 

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Analysis: What It Gets Right, What It Misses

Strengths

The film is unabashed in its intent. It doesn’t shy away from graphic depictions of violence, and it tries to provoke reflection. This kind of bold historical drama can force conversations about uncomfortable aspects of history.

Strong acting performances are often cited, particularly by the leads. Emotional scenes seem to have resonance.

Its visual and production scale are ambitious, especially given its long runtime and portrayal of large-scale riots and tragedies.

Weaknesses

The historical accuracy is heavily debated. Some critics and historians argue that events are simplified or reinterpreted in ways that serve a political narrative. For example, claims about genocide are controversial and contested.

The length (3 hours plus) and pacing are said to fatigue the viewer. Some sequences are viewed as repetitive or sensationalist.

The balancing between “telling history” and “makings of a cinema spectacle” sometimes tilts toward the latter, causing narrative cohesion issues.

Because of the controversies, the film’s reception is polarized; many viewers’ judgments are influenced as much by political lens as by purely cinematic merit.

Broader Implications

The Bengal Files joins other works in modern Indian cinema that attempt to re-examine historical narratives, especially around Partition, communal violence, and the stories less told. It raises questions about how history is represented in popular media, who controls the narrative, and which perspectives are foregrounded.

Given its middle-to-weak box office performance relative to expectations (especially in comparison to The Kashmir Files), it suggests that audience appetite for such films may be more selective, or that controversies might suppress commercial success.

The film is also a case study in how politics, censorship, and regional sensitivities interact with film production and distribution in India. The issues around its release in West Bengal, legal petitions, censor board disagreements all reflect the charged nature of historical storytelling in public life.

My Take

I believe The Bengal Files is ambitious and relevant because we do need cinema that doesn’t just entertain but also probes uncomfortable truths. It succeeds in many places—strong performances, conviction, emotional weight.

But it also feels like it sometimes crosses from “historical drama” into “op-ed in cinema form.” Viewers seeking nuanced or balanced historical insight might be frustrated by what they perceive as selective evidence or dramatization for effect. It may have been stronger if it spent more effort on multiple perspectives, instead of sharply defining villains and victims in ways that risk reinforcing divisions.

On the cinematic front, a tighter edit could have made things more impactful. A 204-minute film demands strong discipline in pacing and narrative transitions; in parts, The Bengal Files seems to suffer from length-induced fatigue.

In sum, The Bengal Files is not a film that aims to be “comfortable.” Whether one agrees with its depiction of events or not, it is designed to spark debate and reflection. And on that front, it succeeds. If you care about history, identity, and the contested terrain of communal narratives in India, it is worth watching—though with a critical mind. It may not offer definitive answers, but it certainly opens doors for discussion.