One of the year’s most talked-about and eagerly awaited movies, The Bengal Files, directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, opened in theaters across the country last week. The movie illuminates a hidden period of India’s troubled past and is a part of Agnihotri‘s critically acclaimed “Truth Trilogy”. Although the movie has already been released nationwide, West Bengal theaters have not yet screened it. On the other hand, The Bengal Files will have a special screening in Kolkata on September 13, one week following its release. Swapan Dasgupta, a former Rajya Sabha MP, formally announced the news.

The special screening of The Bengal Files is scheduled for 4 pm on September 13 at Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Bhasha Bhavan, National Library, Kolkata. Only those invited will be able to attend the screening, which will be a private affair. Following the film’s lack of a West Bengal theatrical distribution, this development occurred. The movie has received praise from viewers all around the nation for revealing an important but little-known period of Indian history. Curiosity is still growing in Bengal, where private screenings are being held even if theaters are not showing the movie.

Vivek Agnihiotri revealed in an interview that theaters have been refusing to show the movie because of political pressure. He said, “We opened the advanced booking, and the theaters have been finalized. I learned it from my distributors. In Bengal, the distributors practiced several religions. History will be made. However, I recently found out that theaters are now declining to screen it due to concerns about potential political unrest”.

The Bengal Files is written 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 Productions, is part of Vivek’s Files trilogy, which includes The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files. The film was released in theatres on September 5, 2025.

Priyanka Dutta