PM Modi, his Cabinet colleagues watch 'Sabarmati Report'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi watched the movie 'The Sabarmati Report' on Monday along with several members of his Cabinet besides MPs from the ruling alliance at the Balyogi Auditorium in the Parliament library building.

Some members of the audience, including veteran actor Jeetendra and Raashii Khanna, who has a key role in the movie, told reporters after the meeting that Modi told them this was the first film he had watched after becoming the prime minister.

Modi was joined by Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Jitan Ram Manjhi, a BJP ally, among others.

The film claims to reveal the truth behind the fire incident in Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002, killing 59 devotees returning from Ayodhya after participating in a religious ceremony.

Vikrant Massey, who played the lead protagonist, said it was a different experience watching the movie with Modi that cannot be expressed in words. He expressed his delight and appealed to the people to watch the film. This experience was the highest point in his career, he added.

In a post on X after watching the film, Modi commended the makers of the film for their effort.

Jeetendra told reporters that this was the first time he had watched a film with the prime minister, because of his daughter Ekta Kapoor, one of its producers.

"He (Modi) told me that it was the first movie he has seen after becoming prime minister," one of the Hindi film industry's leading actors of his times said. Actor Raashii Khanna also made a similar comment and expressed delight at the experience.

The ruling BJP has actively promoted the movie, with many of its state governments making it tax-free.

Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time of the incident, which was followed by communal riots, and the state police had blamed a Muslim mob for setting some of the train coaches on fire. Many accused chargesheeted by the police were later convicted in courts.

The incident had triggered a major political row as an inquiry commission constituted by the then railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, a Congress ally, had claimed that the fire was an accident.

The Gujarat High Court had, however, quashed its findings and termed the commission unconstitutional.