Bengal Files trailer halted by Kolkata police amid controversy

The Bengal Files trailer was unveiled in Kolkata on August 16, 2025, a date aligned with Direct Action Day in 1946, but the event quickly became a flashpoint when Kolkata Police halted the screening at a private hotel. Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, known for The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files, framed the interruption as an attack on historical memory and democracy, while producers vowed the film would still reach theatres on its scheduled release date of September 5, 2025.

Witnesses said the screening began with permission from the hotel but was interrupted first by staff citing a limitation to a press conference, then more forcefully by police who entered and stopped the trailer midway. Agnihotri asserted that all permits were in place and criticized what he called political interference, naming the Bengal administration as a key impediment. He questioned whether safeguarding the state’s history required suppressing a film and argued that the action reflected a broader erosion of civil liberties. The incident followed a pattern of controversy surrounding the project, which is the third in his Files trilogy and centers on the 1940s Bengal violence surrounding Direct...