Clip from 1963 movie falsely viral as ‘real’ footage of Savarkar in prison

This week, a number of Facebook users have been sharing a video featuring a person inside a jail cell. Based on its quality and black-and-white nature, the one and a half minute clip appear to be quite old. The prisoner’s experiences are told to the audience via a voiceover running in the background. Users are now claiming that this ‘rare’ footage allegedly shows Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also known as ‘Veer’ Savarkar. The video is said to be recorded by a British journalist, who visited Savarkar in prison.

We also discovered that this video has been shared earlier (post 1, post 2, post 3).

Alt News has received requests to fact-check this video on our WhatsApp number (+917600011160) and official Android app.

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Clip from a film made on Savarkar

When we searched the keywords ‘Savarkar Andaman jail’ on YouTube, the first result that appeared was a March 2020 fact-check of this very claim by The Lallantop. This fact-check states that the viral video is actually a clip extracted from a film. We scrolled through the suggested videos and found a 40-minute film uploaded by the official channel of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting titled, “Life of Shri Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.” It was uploaded on August 14, 2014.

The viral part starts at the 1:45 mark on the video, where the title sequence reading “Veer Savarkar” is seen. The video description mentions that the film depicts various important events in Savarkar’s life. In the original clip, the visuals between the 25 and 30-minute mark are the ones that appear in the viral video. Therefore, the clip in question was made by cropping scenes from this part of the film.

We also noticed that there is a Films Division watermark and has been attributed to Films Division at the 1:28 mark.

When we searched the keywords ‘Veer Savarkar’ on Films Division, we discovered that there are three versions of a film made on Savarkar. All three mention that this is a 1983 film directed by Prem Vaidya.

Therefore, this fact-check establishes that:

1. The viral video does not feature Veer Savarkar himself. This is actually an actor portraying the historical figure in a movie production commissioned by the Indian government.

2. It was not shot by a British journalist, but is a scene from a film directed by Prem Vaidya.

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