A viral video claims to show how a British reporter recorded a “rare footage” of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also called Veer Savarkar, in a jail situated in Andaman. However, we found that the video is from a 1983 film created by Prem Vaidya on Savarkar’s life.
CLAIM
The claim along with the video reads: “एक ब्रिटिश पत्रकार ने अंडमान की जेल में जाकर 'वीर सावरकर' का यह दुर्लभ फुटेज बनाया था । बीबीसी ने भी अपने चैनल पर यह दिखाया था... जिसमें एक छोटी-सी कोठरी में वीर सावरकर कैद थे। ये सब यातनाएं वीर सावरकर ने देश की आज़ादी के लिय। वीर सावरकर को नमन”
(Translated: A British reporter went to Andaman jail and shot this rare footage of Veer Savarkar. BBC telecast it on its channel...in which Savarkar is lodged in a small room. Veer Savarkar did this for the freedom of the country. Salute Veer Savarkar)
Several Facebook users shared the video with the same claim.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We searched on YouTube with keywords “savarkar andaman jail kala paani” and came across a video uploaded by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in August 2014. The video is titled as: “Life of Shri Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.”
At 25:16 minutes down the YouTube video, we found the same frame as that in the viral video.
Similar visuals from the viral video could also be seen at 27:30 and 29:45 minutes into the MIB video. The narration heard in the viral video is also the same as that of the MIB video.
The description of the video uploaded by the MIB mentions that “the film depicts various important events in his life.” At 01:26 minutes, we also noticed that the MIB video had credited the Films Division of India for the footage.
We then searched on the website of Films Division with “Savarakar” as the keyword and found three results. All the results directed to different versions of the film directed by Prem Vaidya in 1983.
Evidently, the viral video has extracted certain footage from the 1983 film created by Films Division on the life of Veer Savarkar.
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