The Bengal Files trailer launch event disrupted in Kolkata, Vivek Agnihotri claims 'hotel wires were snapped'

The trailer launch event of the controversial film was previously organised at the cinema hall of Quest Mall.

After the cinema chain surprisingly cancelled the event, it was planned to be held at ITC Royal Bengal along EM Bypass in Kolkata.

But the launch was disrupted in the middle as Agnihotri told the media that the organisers had snapped the wires to stall the running of the video.

"We have paid the money, got everything checked and even after all of these, we are told that there are some issues. The wire has been snapped to stall the trailer launch. Who snaps a wire at a private hotel? Everyone knows who is behind all of these," fumed Agnihotri.

"It seems West Bengal does not follow the Indian Constitution... If this is not dictatorship or fascism, then what? The law and order of the state and that's why it's so important that everybody supports this film," he added.

The city hotel was guarded by massive deployment of police, who later confronted Agnihotri at the fag end of the event.

A ruckus broke out at the event when police walked into the Ballroom and stopped the trailer midway leading to a heated argument between a cop and Agnihotri.

"Police are acting under political pressure," Agnihotri thundered. 

A cop, whom Agnihotri confronted, said, "We were never informed about the film's trailer launch. Ask him (Vivek Agnihotri) whether the booking had said the film's trailer will be launched."

Trashing the allegations of political pressure, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya told ABP Ananda, "We have no interest in doing these things. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri always makes propaganda films ahead of elections. He is now releasing The Bengal Files just ahead of the West Bengal elections. We do not care all these."

Earlier, multiple FIRs were filed against the makers. The filmmaker has received an interim stay order from the Calcutta High Court on the FIRs filed against the film and its makers.

Being the third part of the filmmaker’s Files trilogy, following The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files, the film explores the traumatic events of Bengal’s Direct Action Day and the 1946 Calcutta killings.

The Bengal Files is written and directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and produced by Abhishek Agarwal and Pallavi Joshi.

It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, and Darshan Kumar. The film presented by Tej Narayan Agarwal & I Am Buddha is a part of Vivek’s Files trilogy that includes The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files.

The film will arrive in theatres on September 5, 2025.

The Bengal Files

Right to Life marks the concluding chapter of Vivek Agnihotri’s acclaimed “Files Trilogy,” coming after the political thriller The Tashkent Files (2019) and the hard-hitting The Kashmir Files (2022).

This film on what the director called a “Hindu genocide” revisits one of the most violent turning points in India’s pre-independence history—Direct Action Day of 16 August 1946, remembered as the Great Calcutta Killings. It brings to screen the waves of communal bloodshed that followed across Bengal, reaching beyond Calcutta (now Kolkata) to places like Noakhali, Tipperah (present-day Comilla), and other adjoining districts.