After the ruling Trinamool Congress’ opposition to The Bengal Files, the family of a man who was hailed as a saviour of Hindus during the pre-Partition riots of 1946 has sent the producers of the film a legal notice, claiming that it “belittles, dehumanises and demonises him as a rabble-rousing Muslim hater”. Santanu Mukherjee, the grandson of Gopal Mukherjee — referred to as legendary “Gopal Pattha” — has served a legal notice on Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri with the objections. “These nefarious activities of Vivek Agnihotri are wilfully, wantonly and maliciously besmirching the reputation of grandfather, stereotyping him as a communal thug and is clearly aimed at flaring up communal tensions based on imaginary and baseless depictions of my late grandfather’s historic actions,” says Santanu’s legal notice.
The grandson had lodged a police complaint last month, based on the film’s teaser. “I was apprehensive about the manner in which my grandfather would be portrayed. The movie’s teaser and the trailer have confirmed those suspicions. My grandfather also protected Muslim families in our neighbourhood during the communal clashes of 1946,” Santanu told the media. His sister, Niharika, echoed the same sentiments.
According to Santanu, his grandfather’s message was simple — “Don’t kill the innocent. Protect children and women, whether Hindus or Muslims.” He fears that the film will negate Gopal Mukherjee’s message to followers. “The film is ill-researched and will do my grandfather’s reputation more harm than good,” added Santanu.
The Bengal Files is based on the 1946 Hindu-Muslim riots in Bengal, in which countless Hindus were massacred. The TMC did not allow its press conference to be held on August 16 in any cinema in Calcutta as its members threatened the cinemas which had agreed to host the press meet. Finally, it was held at a five-star hotel, but the hotel manager tried to stop the screening of the film’s trailer midway as TMC members exerted pressure on the hotel too.
