‘The Bengal Files’: Vivek Agnihotri injects a booster dose of communal poison

During the pandemic, a booster dose of the vaccine became a common term. It was intended to boost the immune system’s response to the virus. This week, Vivek Agnihotri injects a booster dose of cinematic virus that he unleashed with The Kashmir Files lest people develop immunity against communal politics. Once again, blending a discriminating version of the past with a myopic vision of the present, The Bengal Files not only scratches the wounds of the Partition but also punctures them to manipulate emotions.

Soaked in blood and hate against one community and religion, the film uses cinema as a tool to divide. Juxtaposing the present State of affairs in West Bengal with the Calcutta riots of August 1946 in the wake of the Muslim League’s call for Direct Action Day, followed by the Noakhali riots, the film says that Partition is an unfinished business, instigating majoritarian fear about demographic change and illegal migration.

Asking if Bengal is the new Kashmir, the film not only links the two in terms of storytelling but also seems to have been designed to keep the political pot boiling ahead of State elections, and it goes without saying whose interest its art seeks to serve.

Emboldened by the box office success of The Kashmir Files, for Vivek, there are no half measures. It is like jumping from level 1 to level 3 in a video game. In the scenes of riots, he leaves little to imagination. Heads are decapitated, and bodies are ripped apart. Its relentless rhetoric against one section of society and graphic violence seem to fall short of the Central Board of Film Certification’s criteria of a film inciting communal disharmony. The film has been granted an adult certificate, but who can stop the reels from reaching the target audience? Curiously, the film doesn’t come with a warning that those who would record the film during the screening will be fined or prosecuted.

In terms of storytelling and cinematic syntax, the film addresses the audience that lapped up The Kashmir Files, and one must say that Vivek has sharpened his craft. Spanning three hours, beyond the biased gaze and wilful distortions, it is a gripping account of the tumultuous period that has seldom been depicted in cinematic space, when the self-interest of the Muslim League’s leadership pushed the region into chaos and pain.

Shiva Pandit (Darshan Kumar), the protagonist of The Kashmir Files, is now an IPS officer who is sent to find a missing tribal girl in Murshidabad, where the writ of local MLA Sardar Hussaini (Saswata Chatterjee) runs large. When Shiva confronts Sardar, his superior (Puneet Issar) asks him to apologise as it might instigate riots.

Vivek uses the symbolism of Mother India to connect the past with the present. When Bharti Banerjee (Simrat Kaur/Pallavi Joshi), who bore the brunt of the Partition riots, narrates her tale, Shiva realises that Sardar is enjoying the fruits of minority appeasement that were sown at the time of Partition by enabling illegal migration across the border, creating vote banks. It is a long-standing grouse of a section of society, something that has contributed to bringing the present dispensation to power. Vivek has given it a sharp cinematic shape with the help of dramatic performances by Darshan, Saswata, and Pallavi. Not to forget Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Namashi Chakrabarty. Namashi’s father, Mithun, who is also a prominent political figure now, makes a compelling cameo appearance to put the point of view into context.

If you care to see beyond the strong emotional manipulation, Vivek absolves the British officers, portrays the Congress as meek and selfish, and casts members of the Hindu Mahasabha as the saviours. It is beyond the syllabus that after the riots, the Hindu Mahasabha could not secure political space in West Bengal. Of course, Suhrawardy needs to be pilloried, and Gopal Patha and Rajendralal Roychowdhury deserve a place in our public conscience, but the volatile times and personalities must be put into context. They can’t be seen from the prism of today’s politics.

Vivek’s camera never zooms into an ordinary Muslim’s household affected by violence and puts an entire community in the dock for the faults of self-seeking politicians and their goons. Talking of cultural authenticity, Suharwardy addresses the young Mujibur Rehman as Mujibur instead of Mujib. When Sardar says his son Taimur aspires to be the first minority PM of the country, the writers deliberately forget about Manmohan Singh.

Using right-wing sources, the film vilifies Gandhi. In perhaps the most disrespectful portrayal of the Mahatma on screen, Anupam Kher artfully turns Gandhi into a helpless caricature. Using the cover of ‘based on true events’, the makers create their own history around the recorded events. The dialogue between Gandhi and Jinnah sounds like a conversation between Mohan Bhagwat and Asim Munir, where the former talks of how every Indian’s DNA is the same, and the latter explains how Hindus and Muslims are culturally and religiously different. Ma Bharti talks of a double-faced demon. We are dealing with rulers with forked tongues. She also says what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Past and present do entwine depending on perspective. The detractors of Vivek can take hope from his forecast!

Bengal Files is currently running in theatres

Published – September 05, 2025 07:39 pm IST