Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra raises serious questions

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In a country where, according to me, the most discriminatory and obnoxious word is “minority” (a diabolical, disuniting and malicious term that makes both Hindus and non-Hindus insecure and finally violent or at least gullible to foul politics), Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra showcases a painful part of contemporary Indian history.

In 2002, 59 kar sevaks, including men, women and children and at least one armyman, were burnt alive when locked up in the carriage of the Sabarmarti Express, coming from Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram. It was alleged that it was done by a frenzied mob of Muslims just to strike terror. Various theories were proposed and finally the Nanavati Shah Commision was appointed to fact-find the truth. In 2008, their report debunked the accident theory offered by many and with the help of forensic findings and witnesses, it was conclusively shown that the burning of the train was a deliberate conspiracy and a premeditated massacre. It asks whether the minority being targeted? Or were a deviant section of them the perpetrators of this heinous act?

However, despite the arrests and sentences, 22 years down, the final verdict by the Supreme Court is still shockingly pending.

The film explores a dramatized version of the truth. There is no usual disclaimer that the film is “inspired” or “based” on reality, suggesting that the film is brutally (!) and factually honest and thus unafraid of any legal issues: the Censors had only delayed the release till after the General Elections.

The narrative uses newspaper clippings and statistics to prove its point. At one level, the usual media howl will be that the film is partisan, but it is not to be forgotten that every evidence was in favor of the conspiracy theory but has been cleverly ignored and twisted as well by the media and the politicians of those and today’s times. Also, it must be remembered that there has been deep research involved, and an actor who plays a judge in the movie (the one who says, “Permission granted”), is also one in real life and was personally present during the Commission’s examination of the case.

We have two interesting characters: a railway officer, Deshpandey (Hitu Kanodia, himself a politician too) whose wife (National award-winning actress Denisha Ghumra) acts in the local Ram-Lilas, and son were also on board the ill-fated train coaches, and, much later, a young university student, Abhimanyu (played by M.K. Shivaaksh, also the film’s writer and director), who has lost his parents in the communal riots that followed. He is bent on uncovering the facts.

Abhimanyu wants to unearth the truth. And his meetings with the Hindu lawyer stressing on the conspiracy theory (Manoj Joshi), the social worker, Nishtha Roy (Swati Verma), and the cop who was very much on the scene then, Ravi Mohan (Gulshan Pandey) makes him sift truth from the deliberate falsehoods, ending with his meeting Deshpandey, who is now a teacher.

As in Bastar—The Naxal Story, we see no filtering in the graphic visuals shown of the carnage, and this is bound to restrict the film’s audience. Also, while this docu-drama-like feature is about reality, I do not see what kind of prospects it will have at the box-office or even on streaming. After all, if a message has to be given to the largest majority of film buffs via any movie, there must be some basics that must be followed.

The technical departments have to be complimented for all their work (camera, VFX, CGI, Sound, Production Design) and, for a youngster, Shivaaksh’s work as both actor and filmmaker-writer is commendable on the whole, displaying maturity and restraint.

The performances are excellent too, especially of Manoj Joshi (who eschews his hamming and really expresses deep emotions) as Pandya. Ranvir Shorey is very good too as the Muslim counsel, Qureshi, persisting that the tragedy was an accident, while Hitu Kanodia excels. Denisha Ghumra does well as his wife, and I must also laud Gulshan Pandey as the beleaguered cop.

I wish the film was more audience-friendly. That thin line of difference between searing honesty with or without audience appeal makes all the vital difference, which was the case with other exposes like The Tashkent Files, The Kashmir Files, URI—The Surgical Strike, The Kerala Story and Article 370 but not so with Bastar…, Hamara Baarah and this one. It is not about a known cast but the way the truth is convincingly presented—and to influence viewers in the right manner.

The film asks serious questions about India’s integrity (“us versus them”) and religious aspects and hints at why things happened the way they did. It separates the details of the subsequent Gujarat riots and the entire political shenanigans that followed after the tragedy, and looks at Godhr and the riots from separate lenses. It exposes one of the biggest conspiracies of recent times, but does it in a way that may not lead anywhere despite its intent and intensity.

Rating: *** (Just About)

Om Trinetra Films present Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra  Produced by: B.J. Purohit  Written and Directed by: M.K. Shivaaksh  Music: V. Rax (Rakesh Verma) & Yug Bansal Starring: Manoj Joshi, Ranvir Shorey, Hitu Kanodia, Denisha Ghumra, Akshita Namdev, M.K. Shivaaksh, Gulshan Pandey, Swati Verma & others