Modi Kaka Ka Gaon to be released on 29 December

Nearly 11 months after being denied certification for public exhibition on various grounds, the film Modi Ka Gaon, believed to be inspired by prime minister Narendra Modi's development agenda and now renamed Modi Kaka Ka Gaon, will finally hit the screens on Friday.

"In the first phase, the film will be released on around 600 screens in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, east Punjab and Uttarakhand. The rest of the country will be covered soon thereafter," producer Suresh K Jha told the IANS news agency.

Promos, posters and banners went up on prominent roads and in several cinema halls and multiplexes in Mumbai city and suburbs, besides other cities in the country this week, heralding Modi Kaka Ka Gaon.

The development comes close on the heels of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) giving a certificate to the film in late November.

Jha said the film is "not a biopic on Modi", but the story has been inspired by the prime minister's vision and agenda for the country's progress.

"I am keen that the work of the great leader should be highlighted since some people are making false propaganda and harming the country's interests," Jha said.

In February this year, the CBFC under former chairman Pahlaj Nihalani had declined to certify the film on various gorunds and set a precondition of a no-objection certificate, or NOC, from the prime minister's office (PMO) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clear it.

Jha wrote to the PMO and the ECI, but they did not respond. Thereafter, the producer moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and won the case in October.

In its order dated 12 October, the FCAT said there is no statutory basis or justifiable requirement for getting an NOC from the two bodies. "The requirement to obtain an NOC from the PMO, since neither references are made to the PM nor a character is portrayed as the PM, has no legal basis or foundation," the FCAT ruled.

"The statutory responsibility for certification of films is cast upon the CBFC under the Cinematograph Act. [It] cannot be delegated to different statutory authorities, departments or individuals," the order added.

The tribunal noted Jha's contention that though the film has been inspired by Modi's zeal, development plan and strategy, the scenes in the film are imaginary and not reproductions of any actual events.

The film was shot last year extensively on locales in Mumbai, Patna and Darbhanga, detailing the prime minister's aim of transforming all rural and urban centres into 'Smart Villages' and 'Smart Cities'.

With seven songs, the music for the film has been composed by Manojanand Choudhary.