The Bengal Files doesn’t bear the brilliance of The Kashmir Files or the excellence of The Vaccine War. The film has some shocking, disturbing moments, while the performances are exceptional. A few scenes stand out big time and technically, the film is top-class. However, there are gaps in the narrative, especially in the 1946-47 track. The finale fails to give a high and it’s quite silly and unrealistic. Moreover, the film is too long (has a runtime of 205 minutes). The Kashmir Files was also quite lengthy but it didn’t drag or bore even for a moment. Sadly, the same can’t be said about The Bengal Files. Also, the depiction of a particular community is problematic. Yet again, director Vivek Agnihotri manages to extract fine performances from his actors. Darshan Kumaar (Shiva) plays his part with panache. Pallavi Joshi (old Bharati Banerjee) rocks, followed by Simratt Kaur (young Bharati Banerjee). Saswata Chatterjee (Sardar Husseini) is another actor who steals the show. Mithun Chakraborty (Chatur) does well, but his dialogues are not easy to decipher. Namashi Chakraborty (Ghulam) is menacing and he will be seen in a new light after this film. Eklavya Sood (Amar) makes his presence felt. Anupam Kher is decent as Mahatma Gandhi; as expected, the portrayal will not be acceptable to a section of the audience. Puneet Issar (Rajesh Singh), Priyanshu Chatterjee (Justice Banerjee), Rajesh Khera (Jinnah) and Dibyendu Bhattacharya (Roychowdhury) lend able support. Saurav Das is damn good as Gopal Patha, but sadly, he is forgotten after a point. All in all, The Bengal Files doesn’t make the desired impact.
My rating – ** out of 5!