EXCLUSIVE: Vivek Agnihotri Opens Up About The Challenges He Faced While Researching For The Bengal Files; States, “When We Were Going Through Newspapers From That Time…”

Vivek Agnihotri’s The Bengal Files -a political propaganda drama focused on the Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots, created quite a stir upon its theatrical release. Starring Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Anupam Kher and Simrat Kaur in pivotal roles, the film earned a gross total of Rs 16. 19 crores at the worldwide box office.

The film – which is the third and final installment in Agnihotri’s The Files Trilogy, is all set to release digitally this Friday, November 21 on ZEE5. Ahead of its digital premiere, the filmmaker exclusively opened up about why he choose to tell this story and the challenges he faced during its extensive research period. Read on to know all he shared.

Vivek Agnihotri: Direct Action Day Turned Out To Be One Of The Most Brutal Genocides Of Our Time

When asked what compelled him and his team to talk about the partition of Bengal and bring a film like The Bengal Files to the big screen, Vivek Agnihotri shared, “We were researching for our next film, the final part of the trilogy and, like everyone else, we initially began exploring the Punjab side of Partition. But as we dug deeper, we discovered that the foundation of India’s Partition was actually laid in Bengal, not Punjab. Bengal was also the only state to be partitioned twice: first in 1905 and then again in 1947.”

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He continued, “What shocked us even more was realizing that Independence may not have resulted in Partition at all if not for Direct Action Day. And that day turned out to be one of the most brutal genocides of our time. Around 40,000 people were killed in just two nights, and the streets of Kolkata had human carcasses lying for over a month because there was no one left to clean them, most sanitation workers had been killed. It was a horrifying experience going through this research, and that’s when we knew this story of Direct Action Day had to be told.”

Vivek Agnihotri Recalls Challenges Faced During The Bengal Files’ Research

While talking about the film requiring extensive historical investigation and the challenges he and his teamed faced during its research period, Vivek shared, “Actually, when we were going through newspapers from that time, Indian, international, American, and British, there were a few images that struck me very badly. We have replicated them in the film exactly as they happened. These photographs were taken by Life magazine’s photojournalist named Margaret Bourke-White, and one of them has stayed with me: a street filled entirely with skeletons and human bodies, vultures sitting on top of them, eating whatever flesh was left and among them, there were small children.”

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He added, “That single image represented the entire tragedy for us. It became the starting point of our journey – one that pushed us to go deeper into the research and eventually make this film.”

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Also Read: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Bengal Files Screened At The National Library Of India In Kolkata; Filmmaker Says, “Its A Matter Of Great Joy”

Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.