Vivek Agnihotri shares glimpses of research for 'The Delhi Files', explains reason for WB’s violent history

Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who is busy with the research process of his upcoming political film 'The Delhi Files', has shared his opinion on the politics of West Bengal. 

He said that he spent the last few months understanding the root cause behind the violent history of West Bengal.

On Monday, Vivek took to his X and shared a glimpse of its story during his research, where he uncovered a significant chapter of Bengal’s violent history.

He shared his experience of coming across a story of Bengal’s violent history, during the research of the film. He also shared a picture of him from the National Museum and a painting that a Bengali artist gifted him as he penned a long note in his Tweet.

He wrote, “#TheDelhiFiles Update: The story of Bengal, by the people of Bengal. For the last 6 months, I have been on the road visiting different cities and villages, interviewing people, studying local culture, its history, and trying to understand the root cause of Bengal’s violent history for our next very important film.”

The director further mentioned that Bengal is the only state that was divided twice, and it’s the only state where a series of genocides took place consecutively both in the pre and post-independence era.

“In Independent India, the conflict was between two mainstream national ideologies - Hinduism & Islam. In Bengal, there were four mainstream ideologies - Hinduism, Islam, Communism, and its radical offshoot Naxalism. Also, there was a very strong sense of loss of the great heritage of nationalism, social reform, philosophy, art, literature, and spirituality of Renaissance times. All were in conflict with each other. As a result, the state decayed in all aspects. What was left? The LEFT,” he added.

Vivek then said that partition never ended in Bengal, and in his opinion, there still exist two nations. And three constitutions. He said that Bengal needs a true leader with empathy and vision who can lead Bengal to #IndicRenaissance 2.0.

Vivek travelled from Kerala to Kolkata to Delhi, covering vast distances to gather comprehensive information for his film. He claims to have read over 100 books and more than 200 articles related to the historical events that form the backbone of his film. He and his team also travelled across 20 states for research, studying over 7000 research pages and more than 1000 archives.

‘The Delhi Files’ is produced by Abhishek Agarwal of Abhishek Agarwal Arts and Vivek.

--IANS

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