Vivek Agnihotri’s latest directorial, The Bengal Files was released on Teacher’s Day 2025. The movie, based on the Noakhali Riots and the 1946 Calcutta Riots in British-ruled Bengal, failed to garner many footfalls in the theater.
Dubbed a “political drama propaganda film” on a major online portal, the film has drawn flak from across the Bengali community and moviegoers on social media platforms. The Bengal Files is the third in the series of The Files franchise by Agnihotri, following The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022). The latter was a box-office hit, depicting the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley in 1990.
The Bengal Files has an ensemble of star casts, including Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Puneet Issar, and others.
The movie was initially titled The Delhi Files, in the wake of the turmoil in the capital in 2022. Agnihotri revised the title to The Bengal Files in June 2025.
Reacting to the shoddy response to the film, Hotmail’s co-founder, Sabeer Bhatia took to X/Twitter and quipped,
I’m glad the divisive and historically inaccurate film, The Bengal Files, is underperforming at the box office.
The Indian-American techpreneur further added,
Hate peddlers should be discouraged by avoiding their hateful content.
I’m glad the divisive and historically inaccurate film, The Bengal Files, is underperforming at the box office. Hate peddlers should be discouraged by avoiding their hateful content.
— Sabeer Bhatia (@sabeer) September 12, 2025
Reactions poured in on Sabeer Bhatia’s tweet, with several bashing him for being ignorant of the plot and historical context of the movie. Others echoed similar sentiments as Bhatia.
One user wrote,
He was making this film during the Delhi election called Delhi Files, but then the BJP came into power, so he shifted his focus to Bengal, thinking he could capitalize on the opportunity to disrupt the social fabric there with the same theme and stir up silly emotions among the poor to make easy money like he did with Kashmir Files. Unfortunately, the lottery only happens once in a lifetime.
He was making this film during the Delhi election called Delhi Files, but then the BJP came into power, so he shifted his focus to Bengal, thinking he could capitalize on the opportunity to disrupt the social fabric there with the same theme and stir up silly emotions among the…
— Kunal Jain (@SONOFINDIA) September 13, 2025
Another user remarked,
Those who committed atrocities against innocents in 1946 or in earlier centuries and millennia are no longer alive. Why fuel communal hatred by producing films like Chhaava and The Bengal Files?
Let’s instead create films about issues where today’s living bureaucrats and politicians can be held accountable.
Let’s instead create films about issues where today’s living bureaucrats and…
— Kuldeep Sharma (@Kuldeep9Sharma) September 13, 2025
A third user commented
The Bengal Files was never a film—it was a manifesto of venom shot on camera. Its box office crash is the ultimate review: propaganda doesn’t sell. People want stories, not slurs.
The Bengal Files was never a film—it was a manifesto of venom shot on camera. Its box office crash is the ultimate review: propaganda doesn’t sell. People want stories, not slurs.
— Raju Singh (@raajusingh11) September 13, 2025
Yet another user stated,
The Bengal Files would give Goebbels a run for his money. i can’t believe how the sensor board allowed such a hateful content to be released; it says how all these institutions are desensitized
The Bengal Files would give Goebbels a run for his money, i can’t believe how the sensor board allowed such a hateful content to be released, says how all these institutions are desensitized
— HelioDust (@konakava) September 12, 2025
