The Bengal Files (2025)

Interesting facts

The Bengal Files is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language political drama propaganda film written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri. It presents a storyline focused on the Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots, depicting the violence and its aftermath as a genocide. The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Anupam Kher and Simrat Kaur.

Production

Agnihotri announced the project in April 2022 following the success of The Kashmir Files. He initially titled the film The Delhi Files: The Bengal Chapter to emphasise his belief that "the destiny of India is written in Delhi and not in Bengal". In June 2025, Agnihotri officially renamed the film to The Bengal Files: Right to Life, reflecting the central focus on Bengal history rather than Delhi.

Agnihotri explained that the title shift was prompted by public sentiment: a social media poll received overwhelming support for renaming the film to better reflect its subject. He said, "The first and foremost reason is that the film is about Bengal... then I did a poll where 99 people asked me to change the title. That's when I thought, why get stuck in the communication...

Principal photography began in November 2024. Agnihotri confirmed that filming was wrapped by the end of January 2025.

Pallavi Joshi had initially refused to play her role, feeling it was too big a responsibility, and even suggested Agnihotri, her husband, to cast another actress of the character's age. She eventually decided to play the character after much persuasion.

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