The Bengal Files

The Bengal Files

The story begins in present-day India with a senior Central Bureau of Investigation officer, Shiv Pandit being assigned to trace a missing journalist, Gita Mukherjee who had been working on sensitive historical research. Geeta had been investigating old records from Bengal around 1946 before disappearing under suspicious circumstances. At first, Pandit treats it as a routine missing-person case, but he quickly finds that multiple official files related to the journalist’s work have been sealed, altered, or completely erased. People who were last in contact with Gita either refuse to speak or provide contradictory accounts, and it becomes clear that powerful interests are actively obstructing the investigation. As Pandit follows the journalist’s trail, he discovers that the missing research focused on events in Bengal during 1946, especially the communal violence that erupted around Direct Action Day in Calcutta and later spread to other regions. The narrative shifts repeatedly into flashbacks showing how rising political tensions between communities, fueled by colonial withdrawal and competing political demands, escalated into large-scale riots, killings, and mass displacement. These events are shown through multiple perspectives, including survivors, victims, and those caught in political machinery, revealing confusion, fear, and breakdown of authority during that period.

Director

Vivek Agnihotri

Release

5 Sep 2025

Studio

Abhishek Agarwal

Run time

204 min

Language

Hindi