'The Bengal Files' row: ‘Films Should Be Seen as Art, Not Ideology’: Sourav Das who plays Gopal Patha

Bengali actor Sourav Das, who plays Gopal ‘Patha’ in Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming film revisiting the 1946 Direct Action Day riots, says cinema must be viewed beyond political lenses and judged on its artistic merit.

Kolkata: Bengali actor Sourav Das, who plays Gopal 'Patha' in Vivek Agnihotri's upcoming film 'The Bengal Files', said cinema must be viewed as a work of art and not through the prism of political or ideological bias.

The film, the concluding chapter in Agnihotri's The Files trilogy after The Tashkent Files (2019) and The Kashmir Files (2022), revisits the communal riots of August 1946 in Kolkata, known as 'Direct Action Day'. With a runtime of 204 minutes, it is among the longest Indian films. It is set to hit theatres on September 5.

Das essays the role of Gopal Mukhopadhyay, a goat meat seller, who is remembered for mobilising people to resist rioters during the violence.

"One must accept a film as a piece of art. Audiences are mature enough to criticise if they disagree, or appreciate if they connect with the story. But they must be given that freedom," Das told PTI in an interview.

Asked if the portrayal of the events risks reopening old wounds, he disagreed.

"Don't we know about Independence and Partition? Shouldn't we also know what led to it? That does not mean such events will be repeated. I don't think we will look at these episodes as vultures. Facts must be accepted as they are," he said.

On the criticism about choosing to act in the film, Das said actors should not be judged by the roles they portray on screen.

"In one of my earlier films, I played a character who killed a little girl. Does that mean people should stop watching me? Cinema mirrors society, and negative characters have always existed," he said.

Portraying Gopal 'Patha', Das said, was a "huge responsibility".

"I had a sense of what he represented, but after inputs from my director and the research team, I realised what an iconic figure he was. Playing him has been a deeply satisfying experience," he said.

On the controversy surrounding the film's teaser release in Kolkata last week, Das said he would refrain from commenting as he was not in the city at the time.

TheBengalFiles also features Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Pallavi Joshi, Saswata Chatterjee, Simrat Kaur, Namashi Chakraborty, and Dibyendu Bhattacharya in key roles.