Railway coach set on fire to recreate Godhra for Modi biopic; permit given to show PM selling tea

The makers of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi recreated the Godhra attack scene on Sunday, when a coach of Sabarmati Express was set on fire by a mob. This incident took place in 2002 when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the shoot was planned and supervised by the Western Railways and the Vadodara fire department between Pratap Nagar and Dabhoi railway line. “Permission was given to shoot the documentary film here. It was shot at the narrow gauge Vishwamitri railway station. No rail traffic was affected in the process of the shoot and the bogie being used for the shoot was provided by us. It is a mock-drill bogie and was unused,” Railway PRO Khemraj Meena said.

While the Sabarmati Express scene was shot in Gujarat, the scenes from inside the train will be shot at a set in Mumbai.

Ranjan Bhatt, Vadodara BJP MP and city unit president said, “We have no information that such a documentary has been commissioned by the party leaders or that it is being shot in Vadodara.”

Western Railway CPRO Ravindra Bhakar said, “It has been a week or so since the permission was granted and as far as I know, they wanted to shoot something recreating the Prime Minister selling tea on railway platforms. If they have set fire to a rolling stock or damaged railway property, then we can claim their deposit, claim insurance etc. We make them sign indemnity bond as well.”

It is being speculated that this is the same film for which Vivek Oberoi has been roped in to play Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following media reports, Dhaval Pandya, a senior executive overseeing the shooting, clarified that the coach was not set on fire on Sunday as claimed in some media reports.

"We had not set the coach on fire yesterday as claimed by by some newspapers. After shooting that damaged coach in the same condition, we will apply special effects during editing to show it burning.

"That scene will be of only 20 seconds. We have not set the coach on fire. It will be done on the editing table only. Some media persons misinterpreted our version," said Pandya.

According to crew members supervising the shooting, a damaged coach, used for mock drills by the Railways, was provided by the authorities to recreate the burning of S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra by a mob on February 27, 2002.

"We are shooting a biopic documentary depicting life and times of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This documentary film will be released only on social media.

"We are using a damaged railway coach, used for mock drills, to recreate the Godhra train burning incident," said Jayraj Gadhvi, a supervising executive of the film.