Sitting in their 200-year-old ancestral home at Malanga Lane in Central Kolkata, Shantanu Mukherjee, the grandson of Gopal Mukherjee, who is popularly known as Gopal Patha, tells Indian Express that the family never had any issues with any one making a film on his grandfather’s role in the Direct Action Day communal clashes in Kolkata. Excerpts from the interview:
Shantanu Mukherjee: I was in Class 10 or 11 when my grandfather passed away in 2005. He was 92 at the time of his death. He was a very quiet person who loved to eat everything. He never told us about his role, but his friends would tell us what contributions my grandfather had made.
Q: Is the family happy with how The Bengal Files movie has portrayed Gopal Mukherjee? Or with his bust being inaugurated by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari?
Shantanu Mukherjee: We never had any objection to statues or films being made on him, but permission should have been sought from us, or we should have been informed. We never knew anything about the movie, and came to know about it only through social media. My grandfather’s role in the movie is an important one, so the research team should have at least done proper research. He has been shown in poor light. He was not a Muslim hater, as is being depicted.
If the movie or the bust had been made 20 years ago, we would have been happier. So many different dispensations came to power in the state since Independence, like the erstwhile Congress, Left Front governments, and the ruling TMC government, but no one ever gave him any recognition.
Q: What role did your grandfather play in Direct Action Day?
Shantanu Mukherjee: Before the 1946 riots, Muslim League volunteers had started gathering in different parts of Kolkata. On August 16, 1946, at a public meeting near Shaheed Minar, a call went out that, before India’s Independence, Pakistan must be carved out. People started to loot the arms shops around Esplanade, and killings began. My grandfather played a key role in defending central Calcutta’s Hindu neighbourhoods during the Direct Action Day communal clashes.
Story continues below this ad
But during the riots, my grandfather also protected several innocent Muslim families, like that of rickshaw puller Rafique chacha. All of them took shelter on our terrace. My grandfather had a clear message to protect children and women irrespective of their religion and not to kill the innocent. My grandfather took up arms, but he was very clear that no innocent Muslims should be harmed.
Q: Which famous leaders visited this Malanga Lane house?
Shantanu Mukherjee: My grandfather started as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, but later, like Netaji Subhas Bose, he felt that he needed to take up arms. I have heard that several famous freedom fighters like Baghajatin, Rishi Aurobindo, Barindra Kuman Ghosh, and many others have visited our house to hold meetings. When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was the mayor of Kolkata, he also visited our house.
Q: Do you want to join politics?
Shantanu Mukherjee: We are simple people and want to stay that way. We never thought about joining politics, and we also did not receive any offers. When my grandfather himself never joined politics, we also don’t think we would be taking that path.
(Recently, Shantanu Mukherjee had filed an FIR against the director of The Bengal Files, Vivek Agnihotri, for ‘depicting his grandfather in a wrong manner’. Agnihotri, on the other hand, had claimed that the Kolkata Police stopped the trailer launch event of the film at the last moment. The film features actors Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi in pivotal roles. It is slated to release on September 5.)
4 min read
