The Sabarmati Report is a dangerous film, to say the least, and though I can talk in detail about why I feel that way, I believe that I will keep my thoughts and my opinions to myself (at least, unlike the film, they’re based on real facts). I say so because I believe that, in today’s time, it is extremely difficult to override a narrative that has been triggered by emotions using factual proof. The truth was, is, and will always be in front of us. There are many documentaries and reports that talk about the real reason behind the Godhra riots and why over 1000 people ended up losing their lives post the Sabarmati incident (which the film blatantly chooses to ignore). I understand that in such incidents, “facts” are always fabricated, and I don’t deny that lies would have been spread from both sides. But what the creators of The Sabarmati Report do is close their eyes, conveniently abstain from talking about anything that does not suit their narrative, and, at places, make sure to alter the truth in the name of creative liberty. All I can say here is that sometimes the world can do much better with one less opinion, and so in this article, we will just follow the events shown in The Sabarmati Report and find out if our protagonist was able to achieve what he set out to do.
Spoiler Alert
Why was Samar fired from EBT News?
Samar was a Hindi reporter, and he was finding it very hard to make a name for himself. He always said that Hindi reporters didn’t get the respect that they deserved. But our protagonist did not lose hope, and one day, he got the opportunity he had been waiting for. The most popular prime-time anchor for EBT news, Manika Rajpurohit, asked for a Hindi journalist who could translate whatever she wrote. Manika was being sent to Godhra to cover the incident that had shaken the entire nation. Samar was a cameraman, and he was extremely proficient in the Hindi language. So, he was best suited for the job, and he went with Manika to report from the site of the accident. Now, the moment Samar and Manika reached Godhra, they realized that though people were calling it an accident, it was not. For some reason, the truth was being hidden, and the politicians were trying to use the situation to their advantage. However, only the politicians of the opposition were trying to do that, and as bizarre as it might sound, the sitting government had no role to play in the entire incident. Why? Because the makers of this film said so. So, Samar told Manika that there was a lot of evidence that pointed towards the possibility of the incident being a pre planned operation, and she agreed with him. But Manika’s bosses got a call from the politicians of the opposition, and they asked Manika to call it an accident and not tell the truth. After Manika left Gujarat, Samar stayed back for a few hours, and he recorded footage of the victims admitted to the hospital. Later, he went to his office in Delhi and showed his boss the recording. They were quite impressed by his work, and they told him that they would show whatever he had recorded on the news the next day. But obviously, that didn’t happen. Samar was quite hurt when he saw that his bosses were trying to hide the truth and present a false narrative. He went to his office and created a scene, and ultimately, he was fired from his job. After that, Samar couldn’t find work anywhere, as his bosses blacklisted him and made sure that no media house hired him.
What did Manika want from Amrita?
Almost 5 years have passed since the Sabarmati incident, and nobody has talked about those victims. Samar had never imagined that he would have to pay such a huge cost just to tell people the truth. He became an alcoholic, and he survived by doing some dubbing jobs. Around that time, Amrita, a freshly graduated and extremely enthusiastic media student, joined EBT news. Like every other girl, she idolized Manika Rajpurohit, and she dreamt of having a similar career graph to hers. Manika and her bosses got to know that an independent inquiry commission had been made to investigate the Sabarmati incident and bring the truth to light. The EBT news management knew what lies they had peddled back in the day, and they wanted to make sure that the situation didn’t get out of hand. So, the management, together with Manika, met the Gujarat CM. The CM sent his spokesperson, who made it very clear that he wouldn’t interfere in the investigation carried out by the commission, and that he would make sure that the truth came out. Manika realized that they would need to get ahead of the story, and in order to do that, she decided to put all the blame on the state government. But Manika didn’t want to be the face of the program, as she didn’t want to take any sort of risk. Hence, it was decided that Amrita would be made the scapegoat, and if anything went wrong, then the news channel could shrug off all the responsibility and pin all the blame on her.
Were Samar and Amrita able to bring out the truth?
Amrita got to know that a reporter named Samar knew about what had actually happened back in the day. After seeing what Samar had recorded, Amrita got even more intrigued to know what his perspective was. But the man was nowhere to be found, and moreover, he was not willing to go back to that story again. He had moved on, and he had stopped fighting for the truth. However, Amrita told him that she would pay him well if he came with her to Godhra. Samar agreed, and that’s how the investigation was kickstarted. At first, it came to be known that an incident of eve teasing happened at the railway station, because of which an angry mob arrived and burned the train. But Amrita and Samar both knew that things weren’t adding up and that the people were not speaking the truth. They even went and talked to the victim, and they realized that she was being forced to tell lies. It didn’t take long for Samar and Amrita to find out that a man named Habib Kadri was the mastermind of the entire incident. A local NGO worker named Mehrunnisa helped Amrita and Samar to find the truth.
In The Sabarmati Report’s ending, Amrita left EBT News, and she and Samar had both started working for a different news channel. That didn’t stop them from speaking the truth. Samar was made the news anchor, and that day, on prime time, he spoke about his entire investigation in detail. He told his viewers that the Sabarmati incident was not an accident, but a well-planned operation whose mastermind was Kadri. At the end of the show, he paid homage to those victims who lost their lives in the attack, and he spoke the names of all 59 of them to show his respect.
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