The Bengal Files shows Gopal Mukherjee as a hero: Vivek Agnihotri hits back at FIR

‘The Bengal Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri clarified that his film doesn’t show Bengal’s gang leader Gopal Chandra Mukerhjee, popularly known as Gopal Patha, in a bad light. Mukherjee’s grandson, Shantanu, earlier filed an FIR against the director and others for allegedly insulting his grandfather’s legacy by referring to him as “Ek Tha Kashai Gopal Patha” in the film.

However, denying the allegations, Agnihotri said he had portrayed Mukherjee as the hero that he was. At the press conference for the film in Delhi on Monday, the filmmaker said while he would answer Shantanu legally, he has done full justice to the portrayal of the man who is celebrated for playing a key role in the Hindu resistance during the 1946 Calcutta Killings.

“Gopal Mukherjee was a hero. I have shown him as a hero in the film. I have taken a bit from his interview with the BBC, and taken what he said verbatim. I am aware that the people of Bengal regard him as a hero, and that is how I have portrayed him,” he said.

Agnihotri added that he was supposed to inaugurate Mukherjee’s idol in Kolkata the other day, but after the events of the trailer launch, he couldn’t perform that task.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” he said, alleging that Shantanu’s FIR is an act done under political pressure.

Agnihotri suggested that Shantanu had filed an FIR against him and the team of ‘The Bengal Files’ because he was “forced” to do so.

“His grandson, Shantanu, works with the TMC (Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress) and he is doing what is compulsory for him… you know what the politics of Bengal is like. He is being forced to do what he is doing. We will answer him legally,” he concluded.

Agnihotri addressed the claims of making a film based on distorted facts, and told the media that he has done his research well. The filmmaker, known for helming ‘The Kashmir Files’, also said he would love to have a face-to-face conversation with Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, to discuss the issue further.

Agnihotri reiterated that his film only features the truth of the “Hindu genocide that took place during the 1946 riots in Bengal.” He said had the riots not taken place, Bangladesh would still have been a part of India.

‘The Bengal Files’ is set for release in India and worldwide on September 5. It also features Darshan Kumar, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Mithun Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee, Simrat Kaur, Namashi Chakraborty and Palomi Ghosh, among others.