The Bengal Files

The Bengal Files,^[a] formerly known as The Delhi Files: The Bengal Chapter, is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language film directed by Vivek Agnihotri. It is the third and final instalment in Agnihotri's "Files Trilogy" based on modern Indian history, following The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). The film is based on the 1946 Great Calcutta killings.^[9][10]

The Bengal Files
Directed by	Vivek Agnihotri
Written by	Vivek Agnihotri
Produced by	Abhishek Agarwal Pallavi Joshi
Starring	Mithun Chakraborty Anupam Kher Puneet Issar Govind Namdev Babbu Maan Pallavi Joshi Palomi Ghosh Mohan Kapur Namashi Chakraborthy Anubha Arora Satwant Kaur Richard Keep Shubhankar Das Divya Palat Ankit Bisht Saurav Raj Vermaa Olga Yumasheva
Cinematography	Attar Singh Saini
Production companies	Abhishek Agarwal Arts I Am Buddha Productions
Release date	5 September 2025 (2025-09-05)
Running time	200 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

The film will be released in two parts, the first film titled The Bengal Files: Right to Life is scheduled to be released on 5 September 2025, which is Teachers' Day in India.^[11]

The film explores the communal violence in undivided Bengal during the 1940s, including events like 1946 Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots of 1946, a Hindu genocide. He titled the film The Delhi Files to emphasise his belief that "the destiny of India is written in Delhi and not in Bengal".^[12]

Plot

This film portrays the tragic events surrounding Direct Action Day in 16 August 1946, also known as the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings, the violence soon spread to surrounding regions of Bengal Presidency, including events like Noakhali riots 1946 and Tipperah (Comilla) through a cinematic narrative. The storyline is based on real incidents of communal violence that erupted in Bengal, significantly shaping India's path to independence and partition.^[13]

Cast

• Mithun Chakraborty as Madman Chatur
• Darshan Kumar as Shiva Alok Pandit
• Sourav Das as Gopal Patha /Gopal Chandra Mukhopadhyay (Mukherjee), a professional butcher from Calcutta, Bengal Province, India
• Eklavya Sood as Amar
• Anupam Kher as Mahatma Gandhi
• Puneet Issar as Rajnath Singh
• Saswata Chatterjee as Sardar
• Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Rajendralal Roy Choudhury, a Zamindar from Ramganj, Noakhali, President of the Noakhali District Bar Association and the Noakhali Hindu Mahasabha in 1946
• Govind Namdev
• Pallavi Joshi as Maa Bharati
• Palomi Ghosh as Gauri
• Priyanshu Chatterjee as Banerjee, a judge at Dharmatala Magistrate Court
• Mohan Kapur as Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, third Prime minister of Bengal Province, British India (1946-1947)
• Vatsal Seth as Muhammad Ali Jinnah
• Richard Keep as Lord Mountbatten
• Satwant Kaur
• Olga Yumasheva as Vera H. Suhrawardy/ Begum Noor Jahan alias Vera Alexandrovna Tiscenko Calder, a divorcée and the second wife of Suhrawardy, the Prime minister of Bengal province, British India
• Divya Palat
• Gopal Datt
• Namashi Chakraborty as Gholam Sarwar Husseini, founder of his private army called the Miyar Fauz (Miah's army), provocateur and Chief mastermind/ rioter/ culprit of Noakhali riots 1946
• Babbu Maan
• Anubha Arora
• Shubhankar Das
• Ankit Bisht
• Saurav Raj Vermaa as Choto Miyaan, younger brother of Gholam Sarwar Husseini

Production

Agnihotri announced the project in April 2022 following the success of The Kashmir Files.^[14]

Principal photography began in 2023. Agnihotri confirmed the filming of the film wrapped by January 2025.^[15] The cinematography of the film is handled by Attar Singh Saini.^[16]

Release

The Bengal Files is scheduled for a theatrical release on 5 September 2025.^[17][1]

Historical background

According to director Vivek Agnihotri, the film focuses on the communal violence in Bengal during the 1940s, particularly the Direct Action Day riots and their aftermath. Though the film is set primarily in Bengal, Agnihotri initially chose the title The Delhi Files because, in his words, "the destiny of India is written in Delhi and not Bengal." He stated that the events in Bengal were shaped by decisions taken in Delhi during the 1940s.^[18]

The events portrayed in the film are based on historical incidents such as Direct Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, which took place in August 1946. The violence, which originated in Calcutta following the Muslim League's declaration of Direct Action Day on 16 August, escalated into mass rioting, primarily affecting the Hindu population. Estimates of the death toll ranged from 5,000 to 10,000, with thousands more injured. The violence soon spread to surrounding regions, including Noakhali, Tipperah (Comilla), Bihar, and Punjab, intensifying communal tensions across India.^[19]

Controversies

In April 2022, the Maharashtra Sikh Association issued objections, claiming the film would commercialise the 1984 Sikh massacres but the director on that time has not confirmed the plot details.^[20] Although some speculated that the film is based on 1984 Sikh massacres,^[21] later it was found to be based on Direct Action Day also known as Great Calcutta Killings^[22]

See also

• The Kashmir Files
• The Kerala Story
• The Diary of West Bengal

Notes

1. Multiple references^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}