'Mamata Banerjee Can't Hide The Truth'

'No sane person will ever want to stop this film in Bengal. This is going to heal the Bengali community.'

IMAGE: A scene from The Bengal Files.

After The Kashmir Files, Vivek Agnihotri turns his attention to another part of India and digs into its violent past.

The Bengal Files, releasing September 5, looks just as controversial but the director insists that he be heard.

"I will fight for this film. It's a fight for all the freedom fighters of this country, and for all the people who have suffered in the genocide of Bengal," Vivek tells Subhash K Jha.

The Bengal Files is days from release, but there is no clarity on whether it will be released in West Bengal.

I am appealing through this interview to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to let people see the truth about what really happened in Bengal, why it was divided into two parts.

She can't hide the truth. Nobody can.

Let people see what I have to say about the genocide that happened in Bengal.

There are so many films on the Nazi holocaust and the bombing of Hiroshima. No one has ever stopped them from having their say.

Then why should Bengal not see the truth about what happened to the state?

IMAGE: Vivek Agnihotri with his actor wife Pallavi Joshi and Darshan Kumaar on The Bengal Files sets. Photograph: Kind courtesy Vivek Agnihotri/Instagram

Are you getting death threats?

Yes. I have a family, a wife and child.

I'm also worried about the state of affairs because then what will happen is, we have a history of making sociopolitical films in this country.

So many great filmmakers have made such films but now it's become so difficult to make them.

We have had great films on the freedom fight, the communal riots, the holocausts in India and abroad.

So if I am reaching out into the past to tell us a story that we don't know -- even I didn't know anything about this -- why am I being targeted?

IMAGE: Vivek Agnihotri and Darshan Kumaar on The Bengal Files sets. Photograph: Kind courtesy Vivek Agnihotri/Instagram

A lot of historical cinema in our country is very subjective.

Many of them are impressionist films.

They are creating certain impressions people have in their mind.

Nobody in Hindi cinema has made a film on the Bengal Partition.

Bengal was partitioned twice, not once. But nobody knows.

People see films like Gadar and think that all Partition happened because of Punjab.

But even people, who claim to make truthful films, do not tell the truth. I think the reason is that most of the writers and filmmakers in Bombay came from Punjab.

The Bengal Files is a very difficult, painful film to watch, but it's very engrossing.

IMAGE: A scene from The Bengal Files.

But you have the family of one of the historical characters Gopal Mukherjee coming forward to say that you are not showing him in a good light.

What happens in political films is that at the last minute, a lot of people claim a lot of things.

Gopal Mukherjee's grandson has been talking to me on the phone for a long time. I know him.

He's a TMC (All India Trinamool Congress) member, so he has political compulsions. So I don't know why he's saying what he's saying.

IMAGE: Pallavi Joshi in The Bengal Files.

Do you think Bengal Files will release in Bengal?

First, they cancelled our multiplex screenings of the trailer.

I never thought she or anybody can ever stop a trailer in a five-star hotel.

I don't want to comment on Mamata Banerjee. But one thing I know is that no sane person will ever want to stop this film in Bengal.

This is going to heal the Bengali community. It will bring out the glory and the great renaissance of Bengal to every child and young person in this country.

Bengal will be seen in a different light.

The kind of pain and trauma Bengal has suffered...

Somebody has to be an idiot or is sinister or a member of the Muslim League if they want to cover up the truth.

As a filmmaker, this is a very sad commentary on how limited the freedom of expression is in our country.

Legally, no one can stop it.

Constitutionally, no one can stop it.

Anybody who has taken oath of the Indian Constitution cannot and should not stop it.

But if somebody is going to do that, people will understand that democracy is threatened.

I will take the legal Constitutional route.

I'm not someone who's going to give up.

I will fight for this film.

It's a fight for all the freedom fighters of this country, and for all the people who have suffered in the genocide of Bengal.