‘People on the jury were not…’

Mithun Chakraborty and The Kerala Story

The 71st National Film Awards were announced on Friday, August 1, 2025 for the films certified by the CBFC in 2023. The controversial film The Kerala Story won two awards for Best Direction to Sudipto Sen and Best Cinematography to Prasantanu Mohapatra. The jury was called out for awarding the Adah Sharma starrer, which was dubbed Islamophobic and propaganda film. 

In a recent interview with PTI, veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty called those criticising the movie’s win as “pseudo intellectuals.” He said, “People on the jury were not from Kerala, they were from all over the country. They thought this film should get a National Award, but then there was so much fuss about it. So, whenever you speak the truth, there will be people (who will oppose it).”

The 75-year-old actor will be seen next in The Bengal Files, the third film in Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘Files’ trilogy after The Tashkent Files and The Kashmir Files. Mithun starred in the previous two films as well. The upcoming release revolves around the Calcutta riots of August 16, 1946, triggered after the All-India Muslim League called for Direct Action Day to demand a separate homeland. There have been calls to ban and boycott The Bengal Files.

Mithun is upset that when filmmakers depict the truth, they are dismissed as “propaganda.” “If we speak the truth, it is called propaganda. Shouldn’t our generation know what happened to Noakhali, and what were the Calcutta killings? They should not know about it? We made The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files. Do you not want to know what happened to our great Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, or what happened to the Kashmiri Pandits? Now, you know it.”

Chakraborty criticised people for targeting The Bengal Files without even seeing it trailer. Agnihotri has alleged the trailer launch event of his film in Kolkata faced sabotage and they had to change the venue at the last moment. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has described the film as politically motivated, leading to calls for a boycott and ban. 

“People had not seen the trailer and said, ‘It should be banned’. What is it there in the trailer to be banned? Like, nudity is passed in the name of cinematic liberty, but in this film, there’s no such thing. Violence is part of life and if you’ve done it you must accept it,” the Disco Dancer actor concluded.

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