In the trailer of The Accidental Prime Minister, a character says about the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, “Dr Singh is like Bheeshma. Perfect in own right, but a victim of family drama.” To this Akshaye Khanna’s Sanjay Baru replies, “But there were two families in Mahabharata, and in India, we have just one,” – only to inadvertently sum up the movie’s tone, eulogize Singh, and ridicule the Congress party.
Based on the 2014 book of the same name by Sanjay Baru, The Accidental Prime Minister stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh and Akshaye Khanna as his advisor Sanjay Baru. It is directed by Vijay Gutte. According to Baru, the book was his attempt to humanize Singh, who for most people was a puppet in the arms of his party cadre.
In an Indian Express report, he said, “The book humanises him… The younger generation today thinks of him as some kind of robot, a statue. The ‘Singh is King’ image is gone. He has become an object of ridicule, not admiration. I am showing him as a human being, I want there to be empathy for him.”
Following the release of the trailer, the Congress party has already been up in arms citing “incorrect presentation of the facts.” Maharashtra Youth Congress has demanded a screening of the movie prior to its release.
“If the said movie is released without prior screening for our office bearers and without making necessary changes recommended by us that we find out after viewing the movie it will be understood that you are doing this deliberately, and we have other options open to stop the screening of the same across India,” Congress said in a letter.
Maharashtra Youth Congress writes to makers of #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister & asks to show them the movie before release & if some scenes are found unfactual, they should be deleted else, Youth Congress will not let the movie be screened anywhere in the country. pic.twitter.com/CUGJ98hmv8
— ANI (@ANI) December 27, 2018
However, Anupam Kher was visibly proud of the movie and defended the makers’ decision to release it before the elections. “People release patriotic films during Independence Day or Republic Day. This is a political film and we would like to release it in the election time. What is the problem in that?” said Kher at the trailer launch of the movie in a News18 report.
Directed by Vijay Gutte, The Accidental Prime Minister stars German actor Suzanne Bernert as Sonia Gandhi, Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi and Aahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi. The movie releases on January 11.
Watch the trailer here:
Image Courtesy: India Today
