The Sabarmati Report: Unfiltered, Unwatchable, Unforgettable, For All the Wrong Reasons

Director - Dheeraj Sarna

Writer - Avinash and Arjun 

Cast - Vikrant Massey, Raashii Khanna and Riddhi Dogra

Duration – 127 Minutes

Rating - 1

 

Well, where do I even begin? The Sabarmati Report is supposed to be a hard-hitting, emotionally charged film about the Godhra train burning incident, but it’s honestly more of a trainwreck than the incident it tries to depict. Directed by Dheeraj Sarna, the film attempts to juggle real-life tragedy, media manipulation, and political drama — but ends up failing spectacularly in every department. If this is what happens when a “bold narrative” meets “important history,” we might as well switch to watching reruns of the Ram Gopal Varma classics for real tension.

 

First of all, let’s talk about Vikrant Massey’s performance. Sure, we know the guy’s talented, but here, it feels like he’s sleepwalking through the role of Samar Kumar, a journalist who "wants to uncover the truth." His character should be gripping, but instead, it’s like watching someone who just got off a binge-watch of Kabir Singh and decided to channel that energy into a film. The dialogue delivery is so wooden, you might wonder if he’s auditioning for a tree role in a children’s play. The best part? His character goes on a drunk spiral in the film, which might’ve been a metaphor for the audience’s emotional state after sitting through the first half.

 

Then we have Ridhi Dogra, who plays Manika, a bossy media head who’s apparently supposed to ooze authority and control. Unfortunately, she comes off as more of a high-school drama teacher with a clipboard than the fierce media mogul the film desperately wants her to be. Meanwhile, Raashii Khanna as Amrita, the plucky young journalist, is... well, let’s just say it’s as if she watched too many Scoop episodes and thought, "Hey, I’ll take that and add a dash of ‘I’m trying too hard.’"

 

Now, let’s get to the actual reporting part of The Sabarmati Report, which is supposed to be the crux of this film. The movie claims to stick to the findings of the Nanavati-Mehta Commission, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any semblance of neutrality or journalistic integrity. Instead of an insightful exploration of the incident, it feels more like a one-sided, self-righteous rant disguised as a thriller. It’s as if the filmmakers thought, “Let’s take the opposition’s view, crush it under a pile of emotional rhetoric, and hope the audience buys it.” Spoiler: we don’t.

 

And don’t even get me started on the film’s disjointed structure. The constant switch between real-life footage and fictional reenactments makes you feel like you’re watching a poorly put-together PowerPoint presentation that was hastily edited together by someone on their lunch break. At some points, it felt like I was watching a true-crime documentary made by a high school student who just discovered iMovie. The pacing is all over the place, and I found myself checking my watch more times than I care to admit.

 

In conclusion, The Sabarmati Report is a misguided mess — a film that tries to juggle too many serious issues without ever managing to get a single one right. It’s clunky, preachy, and fails to deliver on the emotional and political weight it so desperately craves. If you’re looking for an actual gripping portrayal of the Godhra incident, do yourself a favor and skip this one. Otherwise, you’re just in for an unsatisfying, incoherent ride that’ll leave you with more questions than answers — and a serious headache.

 

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