Vivek Agnihotri's latest project, The Bengal Files, reflects the harrowing events of the Calcutta riots that erupted on August 16, 1946. These riots unleashed a wave of communal violence across the region. The Bengal Files is the third instalment in Vivek Agnihotri’s Files trilogy, following the critically acclaimed and National Award-winning movies The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. Now, the director’s upcoming movie has been making headlines for quite some time due to its controversial plot. Recently, actor John Abraham talked about the director’s second instalment in the trilogy and expressed his disinterest in making such kinds of movies.

John Abraham, during a recent interview with India Today, was asked whether he would like to make movies like Chhaava or The Kashmir Files, to which he replied, “I haven’t seen Chhaava, but I know that people have loved it, and also The Kashmir Files. But when films are made with the intent to sway people in a hyper-political environment and such films find an audience, that is scary for me. To answer your question, no, I have never been tempted, and I will never make those kinds of films.”

 
 
 
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John Abraham’s remark sparked a major buzz online. Now, director Vivek Agnihotri has finally responded to this controversy. During a recent interview with NDTV, the director expressed that John is not a thinker or a historian; he has also made some jingoistic movies like Satyameva Jayate and Diplomat.

He further added, "If you had told me some great historian had said this, I would have understood it. I don't care about what he's saying. When was India's atmosphere not hyper political? When was it that Hindu-Muslim and caste issues never existed in India?" The director also took a jibe at the actor and said that he is known for driving motorbikes and eating protein, so he should focus on that rather than commenting on movies.

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Produced by Abhishek Agarwal, Pallavi Joshi and Vivek Agnihotri, The Bengal Files stars actors like Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Anupam Kher and Darshan Kumar in the key roles. The much-anticipated movie is slated to hit the theatres on September 5, 2025.