
The Bengal Files Director Vivek Agnihotri Responds Strongly to John Abraham's Criticism of The Kashmir Files
Mumbai, August 22 - National award-winning director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri is gearing up for the release of political drama The Bengal Files, which is the third piece in Agnihotri's Files trilogy after National Award-winning movies The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). The upcoming movie revolves around the Calcutta riots of August 16, 1946, which were triggered after the All-India Muslim League called for Direct Action Day to demand a separate homeland. The movie has been in the media headlines for various reasons, which was expected. Recently, Bollywood star John Abraham shared his opinion on films like The Kashmir Files and Chhaava, and labelled them as the extreme right wing's ideological films, which he said are not good for society. He expressed that he would never make films like The Kashmir Files to "sway people in a hyper-political environment". Abraham's comments left many people furious, including director Agnihotri. During an interview with Padmaja Joshi of NDTV, the filmmaker, who worked with Abraham in 2007's sports drama Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, reacted to the actor's comment about The Kashmir Files. "John is not a historian, an intellectual, a thinker, or a writer. He has been making very, very jingoistic films like Satyameva Jayate, too. He made Diplomat and all those kinds of films. He must have said that for a variety of reasons. If you had told me some great historian had said this, I would have understood it. I don't care about what he's saying. When was India's atmosphere not hyper-political? When was it that Hindu-Muslim and caste issues never existed in India?" – Agnihotri The filmmaker further said, "He is known for driving motorbikes and showing his body and eating protein, he should focus on those things, film-on mein naa hi ghuse toh behtar hai (better if he doesn't get into talking about films)." Produced by Abhishek Agarwal Arts and I Am Buddha Productions in association with Zee Studios, The Bengal Files stars Darshan Kumar, Pallavi Joshi, Simrat Kaur, Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Saswata Chatterjee, Namashi Chakraborty, Rajesh Khera, Puneet Issar, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Sourav Das, and Mohan Kapur. It is scheduled to release on September 5th. Stay tuned...