One thing was clear from the trailer of The Sabarmati Report – the film will not only delve into what happened on the morning of 27 February in Godhra, but will also highlight the debate between English journalists versus Hindi journalists. The film gives full details of two sub-plots from the trailer, with one thing established right from the start – local journalists are looked down upon compared to those reporting in English. And God forbid, if you’re an entertainment journalist, you’ll have no respect compared to those who cover politics/world news. And the film also ends on the same note – a famous journalist who reports in English acknowledges the power of local journalists.

So, does the Sabarmati train incident serve as the background? Not really – this is the case that makes our hero, Samar (Vikrant Massey), hit rock bottom, go into Kabir Singh mode (just staying at home and indulging in alcohol and tobacco) and Then get back up and move forward. She is inspired by a fellow journalist, Amrita Gill (Raashi Khanna), who sets out to understand what happened in Godhra after being assigned a task by Manika (Ridhi Dogra). Manika is an English journalist who gave a ‘balanced’ report on Godhra blaming the administration for failure due to the allegiance of media houses with the opposition in Gujarat. And because of them the ‘truth’ got suppressed. Manika assigned Amrita to do the follow-up report because she, along with those at the top, wanted to change the course of the narrative as the case was being reopened, and because Amrita was replaceable.

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Without going into its details, the film basically travels from a courtroom, where Samar is being accused of attempting to create disharmony by digging up about the Godhra incident, what happened and how he discovered the truth. Lost everything in the search. (For him) and Amrita set out together to find out what had happened and who had carried out this incident.

The film moves from 2002 to 2007 at the time of the incident, when Samar tries to uncover the truth and is being tried in court, to 2017, when the Gujarat High Court upheld the trial court’s decision, claiming It was a planned attack, not an accident.

What is interesting in the film is how an incident from Ayodhya, which is often linked to the Godhra train incident, is not even mentioned. The bogie which was targeted during the incident was carrying ‘karsevaks’ returning from a Mahayagya in Ayodhya. But, more than their gender or community, 59 lives were lost, and the film tries to focus on that.

The big question is whether the Sabarmati report is xenophobic? The answer is no. The film tries to find a balance and puts the blame on individuals with twisted mindsets rather than the entire community. However, the means to achieve this are, unfortunately, poor. Showing a lawyer from a different community who is crucial in helping Samar and Amrita reach the truth was a good effort, but showing members of a particular community celebrating India’s victory during the India vs Pakistan match was not my cup of tea. It was of low standard. Although I am not trying to say that this never happened, but using it as a means to show that Indians are Indians irrespective of their religion could have been avoided.

If that wasn’t enough, the jarring background music caused constant interruptions. It was designed to sensationalize whatever was happening.

The confrontation sequence (not revealing much about it, because spoilers) becomes ridiculous at one point. Imagine that two people, without any help, decide to confront a powerful man, who has a lot of people, and threaten him in his own home, and that man is actually feeling threatened! Director Dheeraj Saran needed to make the film a little more coherent, and he faltered badly.

The film also includes actual footage of the tragedy. This is to enhance the effect. However, many people may not feel comfortable watching the footage.

The acting is the only attraction in the film. Vikrant Massey has given a brilliant performance. Though it can’t be compared to what he achieved in his last two films, 12th Fail and Sector 36, he does justice to the character he has been given. Whether you connect with the ideology of the film or not is different, but as an audience, one will definitely appreciate his performance and the fact that he gives his all to the character.

Riddhi Dogra proved his ability. While she was a part of big films like Jawan and Tiger 3, here she gets an even more amazing role. However, her character arc limits her and audiences can only hope that she is given roles that give her a chance to fully explore her potential.

Raashi Khanna plays the role of novice journalist Amrita Gill. We see her in a serious avatar, and she is good and plays her character well.

Overall, the film is an honest attempt to look at the Godhra tragedy and what happened to the Sabarmati Express on that fateful day. However, it gets bogged down by the many issues involved – including the whole vernacular versus English journalists angle, which goes too far, sometimes overshadowing the tragedy. The film is based on good performances alone, but that’s not enough to save a seriously flawed film.