EXCLUSIVE: The Bengal Files is 1 minute longer than Animal; CBFC censors 'contemptuous' words against transgenders; makers voluntarily remove Gopal Mukhopadhyay's mention in several scenes August 30, 2025 at 03:59PM

After delivering films like The Tashkent Files (2019), The Kashmir Files (2022) and The Vaccine War (2023), director Vivek Agnihotri is back with another hard hitting film, The Bengal Files. The makers of the film secured the censor certificate in advance and Bollywood Hungama, in this article, would exclusively focus on the same.

To begin with, the film wasn't passed by the Examining Committee of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The Bengal Files was referred to the Reviving Committee (RC) presumably due to its content. The RC passed the film but asked for some changes.

The RC asked the makers to remove 'contemptuous' words against the transgender community and replace them with appropriate terms. Similarly, the pictures of prominent personalities were removed and replaced. As per the directive of the RC, the makers submitted supporting documents for the historical events depicted in the film. The makers also provided consent letters from the parents of the child artists involved in the film. Lastly, the disclaimer was depicted with a larger font and also a voiceover.

Once these changes were made, the CBFC passed the film with an 'A' certificate. The duration of the film, as mentioned on the censor certificate, is 204.30 minutes. In other words, The Bengal Files is 3 hours 24 minutes and 30 seconds.

The censor certificate was handed over to the makers on June 25, 2025. Nearly two months later, on August 26, the makers once again approached the CBFC to make voluntary changes in 29 places. The dialogue '100 years old' was changed to 'An old woman who has dementia'. A photo was added in a phone scene while in another place, a phone video was changed. The dialogue 'Bharat ko ek din iska bahut bada harzana dena padega' was reduced. The name Gopal Mukhopadhyay was removed at multiple places.

Further, a scene of vulture and baby was deleted while in another scene, an owl scene was added. The makers also changed text in several scenes.

The makers made two additions - the duration of the scene of the newspaper was increased by a second. In another scene, text and newspaper scene was added in place of another scene, and it's runtime is 68 seconds.

In this way, the makers deleted 1 minute 42 seconds while they added 1 minute 44 seconds. As a result, the revised length of The Bengal Files is 204.32 minutes, or 3 hours, 24 minutes and 32 seconds.

The Bengal Files is the longest Bollywood film in a long time. It is one minute longer than Animal (2023) and 4 minutes longer than the theatrical version of Pushpa 2 (2024). It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi, Saswata Chatterjee and others. It is all set to release on September 5.

Also Read: Vivek Agnihotri warns of legal action if The Bengal Files release is blocked in West Bengal

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