✒️ Sreeja Ghosh
"If Kashmir hurt you, Bengal will haunt you.” With just this one line, filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has once again stirred the national conscience. The teaser for his upcoming film The Bengal Files: Right to Life—the third installment in his politically charged “Files” trilogy was released recently, and it's already setting off ripples of conversation across social media, political circles, and cultural discourse.
After The Tashkent Files explored the mysterious death of Lal Bahadur Shastri and The Kashmir Files sparked an emotional upheaval over the Pandit exodus, The Bengal Files is shaping up to be another gut-punch of forgotten history—this time turning its lens on West Bengal. But what exactly will haunt us about Bengal? And why is this film arriving at a time when Bengal’s own political and cultural fabric is visibly fraying?
The Teaser That Left a Scar
The teaser of The Bengal Files sets a dark and intense tone, focusing on the communal violence in undivided Bengal during the 1940s, particularly events like Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots. It opens with a haunting voiceover from a Kashmiri Pandit character warning that "Bengal is turning into another Kashmir," hinting at a narrative of historical and ongoing turmoil. A striking image of a burning Goddess Durga idol closes the teaser, emphasizing its bold and unsettling nature. A tagline, “If Kashmir hurt you, Bengal will haunt you,” underscores the film’s intent to provoke and explore suppressed historical narratives
Agnihotri, known for his confrontational storytelling, appears to be making an unflinching statement: Bengal, too, has a story the nation refused to hear.
What Is The Bengal Files About?
While the official plot remains under wraps, credible sources and early leaks suggest that The Bengal Files might explore the decades of political violence, ideological suppression, and human rights concerns that have long plagued the state from the Naxalite uprising of the 1970s to more recent incidents of political murders, riots, and law-and-order breakdowns post-2011.The teaser’s tagline—"Right to Life" seems to indicate that the film will deal with gross violations of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the fundamental right to life and liberty. This could include themes such as post-poll violence, ideological censorship, radicalisation, and mob justice, topics Bengal has grappled with in recent years.
Bengal in Today’s Political Landscape
To understand why The Bengal Files teaser hits so hard, one must look at Bengal’s current socio-political climate.
In the past five years alone, West Bengal has witnessed:
Widespread post-poll violence after the 2021 Assembly Elections
Allegations of targeted killings and harassment of opposition party workers
A sharp rise in communal tensions, particularly in districts like Murshidabad, Howrah, Maldah, Cooch Behar, and Birbhum
Concerns about freedom of speech and press, especially in cases where journalists critical of the ruling government were allegedly harassed
An increasing sense of cultural alienation among certain sections of Bengali Hindus, who feel sidelined by vote-bank politics
When viewed against this backdrop, Agnihotri’s film seems less like historical fiction and more like a commentary on the present.
Agnihotri's critics often accuse him of promoting "propaganda cinema," but his supporters argue that he gives voice to stories the mainstream media and Bollywood traditionally avoid. With The Bengal Files, he seems poised to add yet another layer to the ongoing national conversation about historical memory, narrative control, and selective outrage.
The change in the film’s title from The Delhi Files to The Bengal Files also adds intrigue. It suggests a deliberate redirection of focus from the central corridors of power to a region often celebrated for its culture, but rarely held accountable for its darker chapters.
The film stars industry veterans like Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, and Darshan Kumar—all of whom delivered intense performances in The Kashmir Files. Their inclusion adds gravitas and emotional weight.Chakraborty’s casting is especially symbolic. A cultural icon of Bengal himself, his portrayal seems to carry the pain of a Bengali who has seen his homeland transformed, fragmented, and wounded.
Now the question is why This Film Matters in 2025. Releasing on September 5, 2025, The Bengal Files will hit theatres at a politically sensitive time possibly just ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2026, and a year after the next General Election. It may even coincide with legal and political debates around citizenship laws, infiltration issues, and rising concerns about border state vulnerabilities. With the country deeply polarised, the film is likely to trigger both national soul-searching and furious ideological backlash.
But whether one agrees or disagrees with Agnihotri's perspective, one cannot deny his power to ignite debate and his refusal to let sleeping histories lie. Since the teaser’s release, social media has erupted in discussions. Instagram reels, YouTube reaction videos, and X handle threads have dissected every frame. While some accuse the film of being “agenda-driven,” others hail it as a necessary reckoning. Interestingly political leaders from both the ruling TMC and opposition BJP in Bengal have so far remained tight-lipped—a silence that speaks volumes.
