Trailer of the film The Accidental Prime Minister starring Anupam Kher was released yesterday. The film is based on the book of the same title written by Sanjaya Baru, media advisor and chief spokesperson of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh from May 2004 to August 2008.
From the trailer, it appears like a dramatised version of how the PMO operated from 10, Janpath during the ten years of UPA rule, something most people believe. However, the movie has rustled up quite a few people.
While youth Congress and other Congress leaders make noise, Congress wishes to take the high moral ground by not banning the movie. However, friendly media which benefited under the patronage of Sonia Gandhi was more than willing to mock a movie that has not even been released yet simply because it seems to mock their masters.
From writing sensational source-based fiction masquerading as journalism, many of these ‘journalists’ turned film critics overnight.
He is a good actor. But so funny that he is playing Baru. Baru sure has some delusions of grandeur
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) December 28, 2018
And then they proceeded to question the credibility of the author on whose book the film is based.
Only editor I have seen literally begging to a bureaucrat for two page advertisement. https://t.co/u6ep9TeYgn
— Mahesh Langa (@LangaMahesh) December 28, 2018
Rohini was particularly rattled.
In the run up to the 2014 elections Sanjay Baru came up with his graceless book. Now close to 2019 elections, the same book is being peddled again through a film. Besides Kher, Baru also deserves some position for his efforts!
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) December 27, 2018
While others decided to call it a propaganda film.
Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Indu Sarkar, Parmanu, Accidental PM and Uri coming up too. Wonder why they didn’t get a propaganda film made on GST or Notebandi ?
— Ankur Bhardwaj (@Bhayankur) December 28, 2018
A string of movies filled with BJP & Hindutva Propaganda will be released 3 months before election
– #AccidentalPrimeMinister
– URI Surgical Strikes
– ThackereyIt’s a desperate attempt for votes but people are sensible enough to keep politics out of fictional entertainment
— Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee) December 27, 2018
Wonder why they didn’t call ‘Sui-Dhaaga’ which was released earlier this year a propaganda film for the Make in India campaign.
Abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi also didn’t want to be left out of the jokes. She’s upset with the lack of ‘authentic’ Italian accent by the actor playing UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
I just heard the radio teaser of #AccidentalPM & I CANNOT. Stop. Laughing. Is this supposed to be an Italian accent? @INCIndia the film seems like a accidental joke.
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) December 28, 2018
Another journalist-turned-politician was upset at the ‘factual errors’ in the depiction of the fictionalised version of a book based on real-life incidents. Which is amusing, considering most of these people have had no issues with so-called historians distorting history and portraying Mughal emperor Aurangzeb as a messiah of peace, rather even encourage it, but a film dramatising a person’s memoir is mocked at and ridiculed.
Prime Minister’s corner office in South Block has no window and even if if it did it would open towards Rashtrapati Bhavan, not North Block. Can’t take such a shoddily researched film seriously. https://t.co/aVicj3g4CT
— Krishan Partap Singh (@RaisinaSeries) December 27, 2018
It is no surprise that the media received massive patronage from the Congress party. In fact, one would imagine that many people who would not even be employed to write the classified ads of a newspaper are today journalists because of a friendly political regime. These friendly journalists have tried their very best to create an illusion of superiority around the Gandhi family.
They have written several op-eds about the resurgence of Rahul Gandhi and others talking about the ethereal grace of Sonia Gandhi. The Congress scams and improprieties have been pushed under the rug and their lies and hypocrisies are almost never called out.
In case of The Accidental Prime Minister, while Congress leadership is pretending to distance itself, its party men have been left free to rabble-rouse while media loyalists are trashing and mocking the movie because it perhaps goes against the very hands that feed – the Gandhi family.
