The Bengal Files - Wikiwand (2025)

The Bengal Files,^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} 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 installment 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 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 Direct Action Day and the Noakhali riots, which Agnihotri characterizes as a Hindu genocide. He titled the film The Delhi Files to emphasize his belief that "the destiny of India is written in Delhi and not in Bengal".^[12]

This film portrays the tragic events surrounding Direct Action Day in August 1946, also known as the Great Calcutta Killings, 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][14]

• Mithun Chakraborty as Madman
• Darshan Kumar as Shiva Pandit
• Sourav Das as Gopal Patha
• Eklavya Sood as Amar
• Anupam Kher as Mahatma Gandhi
• Puneet Issar as Rajnath
• Saswata Chatterjee
• Dibyendu Bhattacharya
• Govind Namdev
• Babbu Maan
• Pallavi Joshi as Maa Bharati
• Palomi Ghosh
• Mohan Kapur
• Namashi Chakraborthy
• Anubha Arora
• Satwant Kaur
• Richard Keep
• Shubhankar Das
• Divya Palat
• Ankit Bisht
• Saurav Raj Vermaa
• Olga Yumasheva

Agnihotri announced the project in April 2022 following the success of The Kashmir Files.^[15][16]Principal photography began in 2023. Agnihotri confirmed the filming of the film wrapped by January 2025.^[17]The cinematography of the film is handled by Attar Singh Saini.^[18]

The Bengal Files^[1] is scheduled for a theatrical release on 15 August 2025.^[19]

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.^[20]

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, Bihar, and Punjab, intensifying communal tensions across India.^[21]

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.^[22] Although some speculated that the film is based on 1984 Sikh massacres,^[23] later it was found to be based on Direct Action Day also known as Great Calcutta Killings^[24]

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