Several bigwigs from the Bengali film industry, including actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Dev, have addressed a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee flagging what they described as discrimination against Bengali films in their own state.

The letter — also signed by filmmakers Kaushik Ganguly and Srijit Mukherji, and top producers like Shrikant Mohta and Nispal Singh Rane — was prompted by developments surrounding the release of Ganguly’s Dhumketu, starring Dev and Subhashree Ganguly.

Hrithik Roshan and Kiara Advani’s War 2, a high-profile Bollywood release, is set to hit theatres alongside Dhumketu on August 14.

And according to the signatories of the purported letter, distributors of War 2 have allegedly issued instructions to theatre owners in West Bengal to prioritise screening of the Bollywood film over Bengali releases.

Single-screen halls are being asked to allot all four daily shows to War 2, pushing Dhumketu out of prime-time slots, the signatories alleged.

“Over the past few years, we have witnessed how producers and distributors of big Hindi films have issued strict conditions to theatres in Bengal — if a Bengali film is shown alongside, the Hindi film will be pulled out,” the letter reads. “This kind of arm-twisting is never attempted in Maharashtra, Punjab or the southern states. Only in Bengal does this keep happening, again and again.”

The signatories have appealed to the chief minister to ensure that Bengali films are given fair and mandatory access to prime-time slots in theatres across the state. “This is our language, our culture, our pride. If your government doesn’t intervene, Bengali cinema will be permanently pushed to the margins,” they said.

In the wake of the letter, state minister Aroop Biswas has called a meeting at Nandan on August 7 with stakeholders from the industry to address the issue.