Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s new movie, The Bengal Files, is out now, and it’s the third part of his "Files Trilogy" after the ones about Kashmir and Tashkent. It came out on September 5, 2025, and just like his last films, it’s about a important part of Indian history that a lot of people don’t really talk about. This time, it’s about the violence in Bengal back in the 1940s. The movie is super intense and emotional, and honestly, kinda tiring to watch. It tries to be a powerful film, and it is in some ways, but it also kinda falls apart because it's trying to do too much.
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| (Photo Credit: IMDb) Brutal, Long, and Unforgettable |
Read More: 'The Bengal Files' Stumbles on Day 1: Can It Follow in 'Kashmir Files' Footsteps?
The Story: Past Meets Present
The movie doesn’t tell the story in a straight line. It jumps between two different things happening. One part is set now, where a CBI guy named Shiva Pandit (that’s Darshan Kumaar) is looking into a journalist who went missing. This case leads him to these two people, Bharati Banerjee (played by Pallavi Joshi) and some politician named Sardar Husseini (Saswata Chatterjee). He starts to uncover this secret history. The other part of the movie is the bigger story, and it's a super graphic and hard-to-watch look at the Great Calcutta Killings and the Noakhali riots from 1946.
Agnihotri does the same thing he did in his other movies, using the modern investigation to get into the past. It's a neat trick, but the movie is super long—over three hours—and most of that time is spent on the history stuff. They really don't hold back, showing some really brutal and bloody scenes, which is why it got an 'A' rating. You should know going in that it’s a difficult and unsettling movie to sit through, since the director just loves to use a lot of shock value.
The Acting Is The Best Part
Honestly, the thing that stops the movie from being a total mess is the acting. The main actors are all incredible. Pallavi Joshi, especially, is amazing as the tormented Bharati Banerjee. She’s got this quiet power and you can just feel her pain. She’s great in every scene. Darshan Kumaar, the guy who plays the CBI officer, really carries the movie. He does a great job of showing how his character is torn between his job and the terrible things he finds out.
Saswata Chatterjee is a great villain as Sardar Husseini. He’s all cold and calculated, which makes him even more creepy. The other actors, like Eklavya Sood and Sourav Das, don't get a lot of screentime, but their parts are really memorable. And of course, you've got the vets like Anupam Kher and Mithun Chakraborty who just make everything feel more important.
Directing And Tech Stuff: Ambitious but Not Perfect
Vivek Agnihotri's directing style is powerful, but it’s a little too much. The movie is more like a message than a story you can just sit back and watch. The biggest problem is how long it is. It starts to get boring way before the intermission. The editing, done by some guy named Shankh Rajadhyaksh, is a little indulgent. There are just too many long monologues and scenes of violence that could have been shortened to make the movie better. The characters are always giving these big speeches instead of talking like real people, which gets the film's points across but is kinda bad for the story.
The film's look and feel, especially the grimy and realistic sets, do a really good job of making you feel like you're in 1946. But because it's so heavy-handed with a sensitive topic and shows so much violence, it might push some people away.
What people Are saying
"The Bengal Files" has been controversial from the start. People have said there’s a secret ban on it in West Bengal, and there was even a lawsuit about how a historical person was shown in it. All this stuff in real life has become part of the movie's story. The film asks a big question—"why does everything today become about Hindu vs. Muslim?"—but it doesn't really give a good answer, so you’re just left feeling weird about the whole thing.
Even though it hasn't done as well at the box office as "The Kashmir Files," it's a movie that's going to get people talking. It's like a cracked mirror showing a history that was buried. It’s not a fun or easy movie to watch. But if you're into history movies and the other "Files" films, the great acting and the way it looks at a dark part of history make it a big movie, even if it's not perfect. See it for the acting, be ready for the violence, and get ready to think about some uncomfortable questions.
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