The trailer of The Accidental Prime Minister made a lot of heads turn because it features characters based on Congress leaders like Dr Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. It also kicked up a controversy for its theme after the party alleged that the film shows its leaders in bad light. The official Twitter and Facebook pages of the BJP [Bharatiya Janta Party], Congress arch rivals, also shared the trailer and praised the film.
When this was pointed out to the film’s director Vijay Gutte, he said that he did not mind the controversy as long as it helped the film grab eyeballs. In fact, he also said that he would be happy if the trailer was shared through the official social media handles of the Congress.
“As a director I would like if my film reaches as many people as possible and they see the film. It is also better for the producer and actors. I am saying this openly that if tomorrow the Congress party shares the film’s trailer on Twitter I will be more than happy,” he said during the interviews for the film.
The Accidental Prime Minister is an account of Singh’s tenure as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The film is based on the book by the same name written by Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
Gutte added that he didn’t get support from either of the two parties when it came to getting permission to shoot in assemblies. “We wrote letters to various state governments, be it BJP or Congress, requesting them to grant us the permission to shoot inside just for two days. But we didn’t get a positive response from anyone. So we had to create such real spaces through VFX,” he said.
Although the theme of the film is political, Gutte claimed that his main aim was to make an entertaining film. “I wanted to make an international standard film but for the masses. For that people need to smile and be happy. I can never make a serious film. That’s not cinema for me. For me cinema is Rajkumar Hirani. When I laugh and cry at the same time, that’s cinema for me,” he said.
Starring Anupam Kher and Akshaye Khanna in the lead, The Accidental Prime Minister will be released on 11 January.