(Good morning, Newspremi dot com, Saturday, 6 September 2025)
No film as bold as this has ever been made in the world of Hindi cinema. No film as truthful as this has been seen so far. No film as hard-hitting as this has come until now.
Perhaps the new mantra of “Veerta Paramo Dharma” (Courage is the Supreme Virtue) given to us by Swami Sachchidananda decades ago, is derived from the facts depicted in this film.
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has once again created a film that deserves five out of five stars. The life of every patriotic Indian is incomplete without watching The Kashmir Files and The Vaccine War at least once, and the life of every patriotic Indian is incomplete without watching The Bengal Files, released yesterday, more than once.
This film is shocking and jolting. Did such events really happen in Bengal in 1946? Are such things really happening even today in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal? If these questions keep arising at every step while watching the film, know the answer: Yes.
Vivek Agnihotri has prepared a huge file that will soon be released in book form. This file contains documentary evidence for every single event shown in the film. Vivek submitted this file to the Censor Board for The Bengal Files, as proofs to obtain the approval for the film’s release. So, if such questions arise while watching the film, or if some biased film reviewer raises such questions in their review, there is no need to doubt the truth shown in the film.
The Bengal Files unapologetically addresses the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal. It also exposes the middlemen with ties to the government who provide fake Aadhaar cards, fake voter IDs, and fake passports to these infiltrators. Bengal’s demography is changing—Hindu population is declining, they are being killed, and adverse conditions are being created by the state government itself to force Hindus to flee elsewhere. On the other hand, India’s border with Bangladesh has been left open, allowing countless Muslims to settle in Bengal. The local government is engaged in an anti-national conspiracy just to massively increase its vote bank. The violence incited in April 2025 in Bengal’s Murshidabad under the pretext of opposing Waqf amendment was similar to the violence orchestrated in 1946 by Jinnah and Suhrawardy under the banner of Direct Action Day in Calcutta and Noakhali.
The Bengal Files juxtaposes these events of the present and the past. At times, you feel helpless watching the film; at times, you clench your fists in anger; at times, a “Shabash” escapes your lips; at times, your eyes well up with tears; and at times, the scenes of atrocities endured by Hindus make you close your eyes and shudder.
The film is rich with symbolism, like any good film. Bharti Banerjee is a symbol of Bharat Mata, who suffered immense atrocities before independence and now her memory is fading. Muslims have carved a Muslim name on her hand with a knife— Ayesha Jaan. Pallavi Joshi plays this character.
Mithun Chakraborty’s tongue has been cut/burned out, and his manhood has been severed, rendering him impotent and wandering aimlessly like an outcast. Mithun-da symbolizes the helpless Hindu citizen of India.
Justice Banerjee is idealistic, honest, a Gandhian, a zealous secularist, and has unwavering faith in the judiciary. Watching the way the Muslims deal with his ideals and secularism will open the eyes of any Indian citizen who believes in the so-called secularism prevalent in the country.
In 1946, Muslims massacred Hindus in Calcutta and Noakhali to merge those regions into the newly forming Pakistan. The Muslim Chief Minister of the state and the founder of Pakistan together orchestrated this massacre. The plan to merge Calcutta with Pakistan failed because, after two days of violent carnage, a true soldier of Mother India, Gopal Patha (Mukerjee) , rose up. He organized the Hindus of Calcutta, and together they began responding to “bricks with stones.” Suhrawardy and Jinnah, on their knees, pretended to wave the flag of peace and shifted their jihad to Noakhali, where Hindus were only 20% of the population. The 80% Muslim population annihilated the Hindus. Noakhali became part of East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh.
Young Mujibur Rahman was an active accomplice in Suhrawardy’s Direct Action Day. Yes, this is the same Sheikh Mujibur Rahman whom Indira Gandhi made a hero of Bangladesh. Within just three years of coming to power, Mujibur’s government unleashed such terror in Bangladesh that, on the morning of August 15, 1975—the same year India faced the Emergency—his own home was invaded, and he and most of his family were assassinated.
Thousands of Hindus were slaughtered in Calcutta and Noakhali with an aim to merge them into Pakistan. Such things are not happening in Bengal today. There is no effort to merge Bengal or Calcutta into Pakistan. Instead, efforts are being made to turn Bengal and Calcutta into Pakistan. How will Mamata Banerjee allow a film exposing this truth to be released in Bengal?
The new Waqf law was wrongly labeled as anti-Muslim, and Mamata Banerjee announced that the central government’s law would not apply in Bengal! On April 8, 2025, protests against the amended Waqf law began in Umarpur in Murshidabad district of Mamata’s Bengal, and on April 11 and 12, these protests turned violent, escalating into full scale communal riots, which was the original intent of these demonstrations. Banned terrorist organizations like ‘SIMI’ and ‘PFI’ were involved in it, as stated in reports by the committee appointed by the Calcutta High Court and organizations fighting for civil rights. These were not spontaneous riots; they were planned communal attacks in which Muslims killed Hindus. The Muslims who died were killed by police bullets. Muslims also intimidated the police. 18 police officers were injured. Hindus left Murshidabad and took refuge in the nearby Malda district. Some even left the state and went to Jharkhand. What happened to the Pandits in Kashmir is exactly what’s happening in today’s Bengal, which also happened in Bengal in 1946.
Bangladeshi infiltrators have entered Bengal in lakhs. They even have documents proving their Indian citizenship. Can the Bengal government provide employment to such a large number of illegally entered Muslims? No. Now they will spread to other states. The Gujarat government faced a lot of trouble while clearing the settlement of Bangladeshi infiltrators who had been living for years near Chandola Lake in Ahmedabad. Thanks to Mamata Banerjee’s benevolence, thousands of Bangladeshis are still infiltrating even today. They will not only spread to Gujarat but from Maharashtra to many states in India, making every effort to change the demography of every city and every state. The Prime Minister and Home Minister have already raised a red flag on this matter and efforts are being made to stop it.
‘The Bengal Files’ is a film that raises such a red flag. Until now, in Hindi cinema facts and realities were often twisted according to convenience , under the name of creative liberty—making the truth soft and sweet. In ‘The Bengal Files,’ the sharpness and bitterness of truth is preserved as it is.
That’s why critics are calling this film a propaganda film. When terrorists were justified in ‘Maachis,’ did anyone say that Gulzar made an agenda-driven or propaganda film? Did anyone call Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Mission Kashmir’ and ‘Shikara’ propaganda films? Both were films justifying terrorism in Kashmir. Films from ‘Roja,’ ‘Fiza,’ ‘Fanaa,’ and ‘Parzania’ to ‘My Name Is Khan’ (including Mani Ratnam’s ‘Bombay’) were films that wrongly portrayed India’s Hindus. Did anyone say they were propaganda films?
And when Vivek Agnihotri presents the realities of atrocities committed on Hindu society by a section of Muslims exactly as they are and in front of you, it seems like a propaganda film to you? If it does, it only proves that Hindu blood does not run in your veins; green secular blood flows there.
Vivek Agnihotri’s film lacks this, lacks that, it’s too long, too short, this is missing, that is missing, it’s only worthy of one star or two stars—some specific film critics have started throwing bones into Agnihotri’s Hawan by spreading such misinformation. Some film enthusiasts, to project themselves as neutral and impartial, are trying to fool the audience by saying two words of criticism amid praise or two words of praise amid criticism.
It is said that the Hindu public is timid. Our wisdom and tolerance have been considered timidity. Instead of confronting the nation’s burning issues head-on and facing the fear from other religions, we would sit back preserving our livelihood and prestige; because if we clash with anyone, disaster will strike, risks will come, obstacles will arise in life—this is the mentality of most (not all, most) Hindus. The atmosphere has changed after 2014. Now, even well to do, prestigious, and influential citizens are openly making statements about pressing national issues. I am saying this because I saw an excellent example of it just yesterday.
I was planning to watch ‘The Bengal Files’ yesterday in the first day first show. Before I could decide on which theater to book tickets, I received an invitation for a private show at 5:30 in evening in Screen Number 5 of PVR at Palladium in Worli. This show was organized by Mumbai’s top eye surgeon, Dr. Kulin Kothari. He has taken care of the eyes of dignitaries from Morari Bapu to Shah Rukh Khan. By partnering with many wealthy people in Mumbai and adding from his own pocket, he has provided free treatment to many lakhs of poor people so far through his foundation. I am telling you all this because a person who has reached the level of Kulinbhai rarely speaks up loud and clear publicly about such issues. It’s natural for a celebrity of this level to fear that if anyone finds out, troublemakers will try to harm their prestige, influence, etc. Yet, instead of inviting twenty-twenty five people to his home to show the film, he organized a public show. This is proof of his moral courage. There is no need to fear in doing what’s good for the nation.
In Dr. Kulin Kothari’s housefull show, there were approximately 300 audience invitees. half of them would never have gone to watch a (‘propaganda’) film like ‘The Bengal Files.’ were it not for an invitation from a prestigious person like Kulinbhai.
We too have to do the same. We have to step out of our comfort zone, put our prestige and influence at stake, and support what is right—with a loud voice, and by spending our own money. Go watch the film this weekend itself and take as many friends, relatives, family members, neighbors, and office colleagues as possible. Especially take college students to watch this film.
The amended Waqf law, or CAA and NRC, are not anti-Muslim. Yet, some traitorous elements spread misinformation that these laws are anti-Muslim to incite the Muslim public. These same elements will tell you that ‘The Bengal Files’ is anti-Muslim.
‘The Bengal Files’ is not anti-Muslim at all. It narrates the anti-Hindu conspiracies perpatrated by Muslim leaders and their supporters, which is a historical fact. If, while presenting such events, you cover up the faults of Muslims, that would be Muslim appeasement, equivalent to pampering them. So if ‘The Bengal Files’ is not made for appeasement of Muslims (or like some previous films which deal with the terrorists softly), doesn’t mean it’s an anti-Muslim film. Where that community—their politicians, their goons, their supporters—is at fault, Hindi filmmakers normally fear shining a light on it; Vivek Agnihotri has shown the courage to present the truth before you without any such fear.
While watching the film, don’t be like a shallow reviewer saying this is missing here, that is missing there. Instead of finding flaws, try to understand the truth of the scenes in the film that Vivek has bravely made by risking his life. We need to see on the silver screen the truth that leftist Muslim-favoring historians and educators who prepare our textbooks have hidden from us. This film is like a three-and-a-half-hour masterclass on who started the Hindu-Muslim problems and who became and continues to be the victim.
Vivek Agnihotri is not Karan Johar. Vivek Agnihotri has the creative and technical ability to make tickling films and earn crores of rupees. But his purpose is to make eye-opening films for India’s public. Through the medium of a film, through well researched story-screenplay, he wants to tell you two things: who created India’s HIndu-Muslim problem and how.
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