‘No fire in train coach during film shooting’

Vadodara: A film shoot with a train coach in the background, apparently to re-create the images of the 2002 torching of Sabarmati Express, set imaginations on fire in the city.
Amid reports that an unused railway coach was set ablaze at Pratapnagar station in Vadodara on Sunday to enact the Godhra train burning incident, crew members of a film production company and railway officials on Monday had hard time clarifying that the coach was not set ablaze.

Reports suggested that a crew was shooting a biopic documentary depicting life and times of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, which is to be released only on social media.

“We have not set the train bogey on fire. We were using a railway coach, which is otherwise used for mock drills by the railways, to recreate the Godhra train burning incident,” said Jayraj Gadhavi, a supervising executive of the film.

“All we have done is to create an impression of smoke and fire coming out of the train bogey. We will apply special effects during editing to show it burning,” said Gadhavi, adding that the scene of the coach catching fire will be done on the editing table.

According to him, confusion started when some media persons misinterpreted their attempt to create special effects at the set as that being an effort to set the coach on fire.

Gadhvi said the documentary tentatively named ‘Sangharsh’ is not a biopic on Modi. “As the tentative name suggests, it is about the struggles that different leaders have faced during their time. We are trying to depict a variety of personalities including Swami Vivekananda and current day leaders including the PM,” he said.

“Mumbai-based production company Benchmark Production had taken permission from our headquarters to shoot at Pratapnagar and at Vishwamitri station,” said Khemraj Meena, public relations officer of Vadodara railway division of Western Railway.

“We have received no reports from our officials which suggest that the coach was set on fire on Sunday,” said Meena, adding that the coach provided to the company was an unused mock drill bogie.

“As part of the terms and conditions, the coach has to be returned to us in the same condition in which it was given by the railway. We have charged money for its use,” he said.