South Indian actor Mohanlal starrer ‘L2:Empuraan’ is facing major backlash for the alleged misportrayal of the 2002 Gujarat riots. The much-anticipated movie has been accused of showing Hindus as insensitive and merciless, using the context of the Godhra riots. Following the criticism, the movie’s producer, Gokulam Gopalan, has reportedly asked director-actor Prithviraj Sukumaran to modify certain controversial parts of the movie. “If any scenes or dialogues shown in the movie Empuraan hurt anyone, I have told director Prithviraj to make changes,” said Gopalan as quoted by India Today.
“Some words have been muted for the time being. There have been protests about certain things shown in the movie, and I have asked the director if he can make any changes; he should. The film was censored, and there was no issue then. We have no connection with any political party, I see politics as a service,” the producer clarified.
The movie portrays Hindus as insensitive
The movie, which is a sequel to Lucifer (2019), allegedly portrayed the events after the Godhra riots in a manner that pushes an anti-Hindu narrative. Among other controversial scenes, there is reportedly a scene in the movie where a Muslim family is shown as being brutally killed by Hindu right-wing extremists. Sukumaran, playing second fiddle to Mohanlal’s character in the movie, portrayed a character named Zayed Masood. The controversial scenes relating to the Godhra riots appear in the introduction of the background of Sukumaran’s character. Besides, the movie allegedly shows how the then-ruling party, which was the BJP led by erstwhile Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, misused the central agencies during the riots.
The Mohanlal-Prithviraj film Empuraan spreads false narratives about the Gujarat r!ots, distorting facts and hiding the truth about the Sabarmati Express attack. This deliberate misinformation must be met with an absolute boycott#Empuraan#EmpuraanReview pic.twitter.com/3akfBKp1Xi
— LOST BOYS (KAFIR) (@driftcat) March 29, 2025
Organiser, an English weekly, pointed out certain scenes in the movie that show Hindus in a bad light, including one where a Hindu man is shown committing violence against a pregnant Muslim woman. “The film opens with a powerful and disturbing sequence depicting a Muslim village burning during the 2002 post-Godhra riots. What follows is a series of graphic and intense scenes which disturb every human mind. It includes Hindu men mercilessly beating a Muslim child and committing horrific violence against a pregnant Muslim woman, ” the Organiser wrote. “These scenes go beyond mere shock value; they are purposefully designed to reinforce the image of Hindus as the primary aggressors during the 2002 riots, perpetuating hatred between the two communities and portraying Hindus as villains, ” it added.
The truth of the Godhra riots
The Godhra riots are perhaps among the most misrepresented and the most politicised events in the country’s history of communal riots. While the riots have been used by politicians, media houses and left liberals over the years to paint an anti-Hindu narrative, the carnage that preceded the riots, in which 59 karsevaks were charred to death in a train coach set on fire by a Muslim mob, has never found mention in that narrative.
On 27th February 2002, the Sabarmati Express, after running four hours late, reached Godhra station by 7:40 am. at about 3:30 am. Coach S6 of the train was carrying 59 karsevaks returning from the Ramjanmabhoomi site in Ayodhya. Within minutes of the train arriving at the station, a mob of around 2000 Muslims from the nearby Muslim-dominated area of Signal Falia surrounded the coach carrying karsevaks and set it on fire. All the karsevaks inside the coach, including 25 women and 15 children, were burnt alive.
After years of judicial trial, the trial court convicted 31 Muslims on 22nd February, 2011, for the Godhra massacre. The convictions were later affirmed by the Gujarat High Court in 2017. In February 2003, one of the accused gave a judicial confession in which he admitted that the Godhra carnage was a pre-planned attack.
Several stories were cooked up by the Islamist apologists to justify the planned attack on the karsevaks, including the karsevaks allegedly kidnapping a Muslim girl, or the karsevaks entering into an argument with some Muslim vendors at the railway station and so on. However, all these stories were rejected by the Nanavati-Mehta Commission, which was set up to investigate the Godhra massacre of karsevaks and the Godhra riots. The commission concluded that no instigation happened from the side of the karsevaks. It said that the attack was pre-planned. About 60 litres of inflammable liquid must have been used in burning that coach. The floor of the coach in some places was totally burnt. After explaining the difference between a fire in an open space and a fire in a confined place, he stated that the phenomenon of flashover can happen in a place that is small and completely closed. The size of S/6 was quite big. Its total area of it was 5000 sq. ft. Therefore, there was no possibility of a flashover in that coach unless the fire was big. The fire had not started from below the coach. The total quantity of liquid that was required for burning the coach could not have been thrown from outside, nor the fire which took place in S/6 could have been caused only by the burning rags thrown in it. As there was more damage in the eastern part of the coach, he had come to the conclusion that the fire had originated in the eastern part of that coach,” observed the commission.
