Exclusive: Vikrant Massey Opens Up On The Sabarmati Report Being A “Propaganda Film”

Vikrant Massey, currently promoting his upcoming film The Sabarmati Report, recently got candid during an interview with Arun Singh, where he spoke at length about the project and the controversies around it. Based on the Godhra train burning incident in February 2002, Vikrant plays a journalist in the film. But ever since the trailer dropped, it has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, owing to its sensitive plot. The actor shared his views on The Sabarmati Report being called a “propaganda film” and how he doesn’t believe in it. 

He started with, “Logon ka ye bhi kehna hai ki this is a propaganda film. Ye ek film hai jo current dispensation ko mollycoddle karne ke liye banayi jaa rahi hai (People are saying that this is a propaganda film, and it is being made to mollycoddle the current dispensation.)”

While that seems to be the general consensus, Vikrant has a completely different take on it. He shared that had the accusations been true, they could have released the film before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “Agar aisa hota toh 3 May ko jo hum release karna chah rahe the, hum tab aate. But elections the, May se leke June tak election the. Election Commission ka ek bohot hi strict mandate hota hai, ki koi bhi film ya koi bhi cheez jo aapko elections ke dauran khaas taur pe influence kare, wo cheez public domain mein nahi aa sakti, model code of conduct ke wajah se hum nahi aaye (Had that been the case, then we would have released the film on May 3, as we initially wanted. But because of the elections form May to June, the Election Commission has a strict mandate to not release a film or anything else in the public domain which might influence people. We followed the model code of conduct and we didn’t release the film at the time,)” he further elaborated. 

Ranjan Chandel’s The Sabarmati Report is slated to hit the theatres on 15 November. Besides Vikrant Massey, the cast of the film also includes Raashii Khanna and Riddhi Dogra.