Relief For 'Bengal Files' Makers, High Court Dismisses Censorship Request

In a relief for the makers of the film, "The Bengal Files", the Calcutta High Court on Monday dismissed a censorship request petition.

The petitioner, Santanu Mukherjee, claimed that his grandfather, Gopal Chandra Mukherjee, was depicted in a defamatory manner in Vivek Agnihotri's film, and sought a probe into the censor certification. He sought a probe into what parameters were taken up by the censor board before certifying the movie.

The film, based on the communal riots of August 1946 in Kolkata, known as the ‘Great Calcutta Killings', was released last Friday.

"The petitioner intended to obtain certain information under RTI. The time period under which the information was sought has expired," Justice Amrita Sinha said.

During the hearing last week, the petitioner had claimed that Mukherjee's character had been termed 'Patha', a Bengali connotation for goat, in the movie.

Mukherjee ran a goat meat shop in the 1940s at the Bowbazar area in central Kolkata.

The petitioner submitted that his grandfather was an eminent freedom fighter on whom the film was made.

Alleging that the filmmaker has depicted him as being involved in the events of August 16, 1946, he claimed that this is not true.

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".

The movie features Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Saswata Chatterjee, Darshan Kumarr and Sourav Das in leading roles.