On Thursday, September 11, the Trinamool Congress lashed out at filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri soon after an organisation in Kolkata announced they are organising the first screening of the movie in the city on September 13.
Earlier today, BJP-backed organisation Khola Hawa is set to host the first screening in Kolkata of the controversial film The Bengal Files on September 13. The Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi-starrer, set against the backdrop of the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings, is to be screened at Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Bhasha Bhavan at the National Library in Kolkata.
During a press conference in Kolkata, Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu told reporters, "They have the right to screen the movie. But The Bengal Files has been rejected nationwide. The business the movie has made is very poor. As the director is not receiving any support, be it from media or party, he is crying."
A week after its all-India theatrical release on September 5, Vivek Agnihotri's The Bengal Files will have a screening in Bengal. The film will be shown behind closed doors, with attendance by invitation only.
Agnihotri has been outspoken about the challenges his film has encountered in West Bengal. In an interview with NDTV, he revealed that despite booking theatres in advance, distributors informed him that venues are now refusing to screen it due to fears of political unrest.
Former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, a key part of the organisation Khola Hawa, shared the news of the screening of The Bengal Files.
The film, based on the communal riots of August 1946 in Kolkata, known as the 'Great Calcutta Killings', was released last Friday. In a relief for the makers, on September 8, the Calcutta High Court dismissed a censorship petition against The Bengal Files.
The film is currently not being screened in theatres across West Bengal. Vivek Agnihotri has alleged that political pressure and intimidation by the ruling Trinamool Congress were behind what he called an "unofficial ban".
