In a relief for the makers of the film “The Bengal Files,” the Calcutta High Court dismissed a censorship request on Monday. The petitioner, Santanu Mukherjee, argued that his grandfather, Gopal Chandra Mukherjee portrayed in a wrong way in Vivek Agnihotri’s film. He asked for an investigation into the censor certification process and wanted to know what criteria the censor board used to approve the movie.
The film, which centers on the communal riots of August 1946 in Kolkata, known as the ‘Great Calcutta Killings,’ released last Friday. “The petitioner wanted to get some information under RTI. The time period for this request has passed,” Justice Amrita Sinha said.
HC dismiss censorship request, approve The Bengal Files
During the hearing last week, the petitioner claimed that Mukherjee’s character referred to as ‘Patha,’ which means goat in Bengali. Mukherjee ran a goat meat shop in the 1940s in the Bowbazar area of central Kolkata. The petitioner argued that his grandfather was an important freedom fighter and that the film’s portrayal was misleading.
Family members claims wrong information shown in film
He claimed the filmmaker implied his grandfather involved in the events of August 16, 1946, which he said was false. The film is not currently showing in theaters across West Bengal. Vivek Agnihotri said political pressure and intimidation from the ruling Trinamool Congress caused what he called an “unofficial ban.” The Bengal Files movie stars Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Saswata Chatterjee, Darshan Kumarr, and Sourav Das in leading roles.
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