Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photo shoot with Bear Grylls on Discovery Channel is back in the news after the British survivor paid a special tribute to Modi, hailing him as one of the “most powerful leaders in the world”.
Grylls shared photos on
“I have met some of the most powerful leaders in the world,” Grylls wrote on X. “The best of them were never the loudest.”
The show dates back to February 2019 when PM Modi was invited by Bear Grylls on the popular Discovery Channel show ‘Man Vs Wild’ on one of his treks inside the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.
However, the show faced a great deal of controversy as the shooting day of the show coincided with the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of more than 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Nearly a week after the attack, the Congress claimed that Modi was shooting for a documentary at Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand on the day a dastardly terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir shook the entire country. The party accused the Prime Minister of continuing to film even after news of the deadly attack emerged.
“The terror attack took place at 3:10 pm, but the Prime Minister was busy shooting his promotional film till 6:40 pm. When the entire country was mourning the loss of our soldiers’ lives in the Pulwama attack in the afternoon, PM Modi was busy shooting a film till the evening. Is there any Prime Minister in the world like this?” Congress leader Randeep Surjewala then said.
However, the BJP has rejected Congress’ allegations. The party said the Prime Minister learned of the attacks late and that he canceled his public rally in Rudrapur that afternoon after learning of the attack. Sources cited in several media reports at the time said Modi sought updates from National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik before returning to his guest house in Ramnagar.
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Satyapal Malik, who died in 2025, said he called Prime Minister Modi soon after the attack but it was not possible to contact the Prime Minister. “He was in Corbett National Park, finishing the shoot. There is no phone there, so after he got out of there, he called me from Dhaba: ‘Satyapal, what happened?’ I said to him: ‘Sir, I am very sad that this happened only because of our fault. If we had given them a plane it would not have happened.’ He asked me to keep quiet about it after that,” Malik claimed in a 2023 interview.
Malik’s statements sparked controversy when he claimed that he suggested that the attack occurred due to government lapses and that Prime Minister Modi had asked to remain silent about it. He also alleged “incompetence” and “negligence” on the part of the CRPF and the Union Home Ministry.
Amit Shah, the then BJP president, had accused the Congress of playing petty politics over the Pulwama attack. Malik’s allegations also faced denials from the BJP.
“Congress is raising the issue of events that the Prime Minister was attending at that time. Say what you want, but the people of the country were not affected. It is very serious about national security and zero tolerance towards terrorism. In what face are you questioning the Prime Minister? The same party has questioned the surgical strikes,” Shah was quoted as saying.
Modi retained power in the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections, his second consecutive term.
