The Bengal Files is the third in Vivek Agnihotri’s 'files' trilogy that focuses on the 'Right to Live'. The story begins with CBI officer Shiv Pandit (Darshan Kumar) who is given the task to probe the disappearance of a female journalist Geeta Mandal who was trying to uncover Bengal’s violent past at Naokhali. Gita Mandal's sudden disappearence point the needle of suspicion toward a local MLA, Sardar Hosseini (Saswata Chatterjee), who is worshipped by the locals but despite Shiva’s persistence, the evidence remains elusive. Shiv tries different ways to arrest Sardar but fails. This is the time that he meets Bharati Banerjee (Pallavi Joshi), an elderly woman whose fading memory becomes the bridge to history. Bharati tries recollecting the past into the pre-partition years of 1946, reconstructing Direct Action Day and the Noakhali killings in graphic detail. Her narrations gives a peek into the violence that scarred Bengal, tracing the people, politics, and compulsions that shaped a dark chapter in India’s journey to independence.