Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri is coming up with his new film The Bengal Files. The movie revolves around the Calcutta riots of August 16, 1946, which were triggered after the All-India Muslim League called for Direct Action Day to demand a separate homeland.
The Bengal Files is the third piece in Vivek Agnihotri's Files trilogy after National Award-winning movies The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022).
Days ago, actor John Abraham who worked with the director in the 2007 sports drama Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal in an interview said he would never make films like The Kashmir Files to "sway people in a hyper-political environment".
In an exclusive interview with Padmaja Joshi, Managing Editor, NDTV, the director also reacted to John Abraham's comments on The Kashmir Files.
"John is not a historian, an intellectual, a thinker, or a writer. He has been making very, very jingoistic films like Satyameva Jayate too. He made Diplomat and all those kinds of films. He must have said (that) for a variety of reasons.
"If you had told me some great historian had said this I would have understood it. I don't care about what he's saying. When was India's atmosphere not hyper political? When was it that Hindu-Muslim and caste issues never existed in India?" Vivek Agnihotri told NDTV.
"He is known for driving motorbikes and showing his body and eating protein, he should focus on those things, film-on mein naa hi ghuse toh behtar hai (better if he doesn't get into talking about films)," said Vivek Agnihotri to NDTV.
Why should filmmakers treat topics such as Hindu-Muslim riots or caste divide as taboo subjects, he asked.
"I am not saying that Hindus should not like Muslims... My film is the voice of We, the people, of Bharat. It is showing how a common man suffers when the political powers use communal politics and communal violence. And when they empower these rowdy people, illegal immigrants or the goonda section of the society like tolabaz (extortionists) in Bengal, we, the people of Bharat, suffer," the filmmaker added.
The Bengal Files is slated to be released in theatres on September 5. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Darshan Kumar.
