The Bengal Files Movie Review: Vivek Agnihotri's film is divisive and inconsistent with credible performances

The Bengal Files Movie Review: Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri's The Bengal Files tells a gory chapter from the pages of history. An incident that had ravaged Bengal due to communal violence and left thousands dead. However, the Calcutta riots of 1946 are not as widely known as the partition and gory violence that took place weeks before India's independence. Agnihotri, who has also written the film, connects present-day riots in Murshidabad to the Direct Action Day of 1946 in ways one possibly can't fathom. Of course, since it's an Agnihotri film, the plot and screenplay are divisive from the word go.

The plot of The Bengal Files

CBI sends its officer, Shiva Pandit (Darshan Kumar), to Murshidabad to investigate the disappearance of a Dalit girl. The prime suspect and eyewitness is Bharti Bannerjee (Pallavi Joshi), a lady in her 90s who suffers from dementia. Suspicions are also on the local MLA Sardar Husseini (Saswata Chatterjee), who holds a lot of power among the people there.

While the main plot is of a case of a missing girl, Shiva is told by the local corrupt police that Bengal is run by kinds of communities, the Hindu and the Muslim, and it's not good to mess with those in power.

While investigating the case, Shiva discovers Bharti's past, a feisty girl whose life changed on Direct Action Day.

Bharti and her friend /lover/ confidant, Amarjot Arora (Eklavya Sood), had witnessed terrible communal violence not once but twice. And while they, as Gandhians, wanted to live in a secular India, local Muslim leader Ghulam had other plans.

What works in The Bengal Files

The partition and its harrowing effects have been well documented in cinema over the years. Agnihotri goes back a year to narrate first the Calcutta riots and then the Noakhali violence that cemented the decision of Pakistan in every way possible.

It's an important chapter of Indian history which has not been discussed as widely as it should have been.

The actors

The film is led by Simrat Kaur, who, as the young Bharti, has been a witness to a lot of brutality at a young age. Yet the spirited girl never loses hope, fighting the oppressors, saving the oppressed. Simrat had given a credible performance in Gadar 2, and in The Bengal Files gets a meaty role, and she does not disappoint.

Complementing her in every scene is Eklavya Sood as Amar, who is the wind beneath Bharti's wings. The two new faces stand out among the ensemble cast, which also features Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher, and Dibyendu.

While these stalwarts are all good in their performance, it is a terribly inconsistent screenplay that lets the film down.

What does not work in The Bengal Files?

It's a divisive film, and even though it narrates an important part of history, it still keeps reiterating the concept of Hindu rashtra. Hindus are good, Muslims are bad. Sikhs are allies. There are some good Muslims who have decided to stay in India, the bad ones have moved to Pakistan- such dialogues are reiterated nonstop.

At so many moments in the film, I could imagine Agnihotri speaking out instead of the actors. Very casually, the Communists are called aggressive and anti-Hindu; casually, Congress is blamed for all the massacres that happened during the partition. The film is also full of stereotypes. All Bengalis are worshippers of Kali, chanting Joi Ma Kali regularly, the Muslims are allies of the Russians, the women are in red-bordered white sarees, women taking up the form of Durga at regular intervals, the mention of Tagore- the symbolism is in plenty, and not everything really makes sense. Because the film is about Bengal, Agnihotri puts in whatever information pop culture has provided about the community in one big, messy screenplay.

The violence is too much to take in. Just to reiterate how gory the past was, Agnihotri dials up the graphic scenes a notch higher. So many shots of mutiliated body parts (prosthetics of course) are zoomed in. Corpse hanging along side animal carcasses, bodies being ripped apart- why do we have to see all these on screen. Dialogues are enough to make one understand.

The maker also treads with caution at some moments, and hence his stand oscillates. Pakistan is evil, Indian muslims are converts, and so they should have remained in Bharat. After establishing how the muslims are protected in Bengal and thus have free run in terms of crime, a monologue towards talk of Hindu-Muslim unity, and why all debates and discussions ultimately boil down to divisive politics. I wasn't sure if I was to belived in Agnihotri's version that Muslims are bad or Muslims are also victims of divisive politics by the end of it. Pick a side, Sir!

The Bengal Files, touted as one of the ‘boldest films’ from Agnihotri, is also perhaps the most convoluted film in his repertoire. It plays to the gallery; it is too graphic and divisive to be taken seriously. It may be telling an important story, but its implementation is awfully convoluted.

The Bengal Files cast and crew

Actors: Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Namashi Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Simrat Kaur, Saswata Chatterjee, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Sourav Das, Mohan Kapur, Rajesh Khera, Puneet Issar, Palomi Ghosh

Director: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri