KOLKATA: A day after Shantanu Mukherjee, Gopal Mukherjee’s grandson, has filed a police complaint against ‘The Bengal Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri for allegedly distorting his grandfather’s identity in the film, actors of the film namely Saswata Chatterjee and Saurav Das have distanced themselves from the controversy. Both the actors said that they knew only about their character in the film and not the rest of the story.
In an interview, Saswata said that he is not a ‘historian but just an actor’. He further claimed that he was unaware of the title change of the film from ‘The Delhi Files’ to ‘The Bengal Files’ and only knew about his character.
The ‘Kahaani’ actor further added that those who feel Bengal in the film has been shown in poor light can go to court. But it is not his job as an actor to check historical facts.
Similar comments were heard from Das too. The young actor from Bengal plays Gopal Mukherjee in the film. A Bengali fighter, Gopal is said to have played a crucial role in stopping the 1946 riots and the atrocities on Hindus.
However, in a personal reel video, Agnihotri mentioned him as “Ek Tha Kashai Gopal Patha”, which prompted Shantanu to file a police complaint against the filmmaker. “I don’t know anything else apart from my character. Gopal Patha existed. It was a strong character and I got a chance to work in a Bollywood project. Apart from my character, I don’t know anything else,” said Das.
The Kolkata Police cancelled the trailer launch of the film in the city a few days ago. The film has also been hit by multiple FIRs in Bengal.