The Accidental Prime Minister is a good film. It exposes the Gandhi family but it ends up being too kind to Manmohan Singh.
- In Politics
- 02:09 AM, Jan 14, 2019
- Shwetank Bhushan
Based on Sanjaya Baru’s book, and directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, the film The Accidental Prime Minister, on ex-PM Dr. Manmohan Singh is in the news. While some are calling it a propaganda film, others insist on it revealing the truth.
Sorry to say, nothing is revealing in the film that Indians didn’t already know. For a movie that promises to give the audience an 'inside view' of Dr. Singh's PMO, the film barely scratches the surface.
This movie could fall into the category of failed propaganda, as the film tries to shield Dr. Singh, behind the image of Bhishma Pitamah. "Mujhe toh doctor saab Bhishma jaise lagte hai. Jinme koi buraai nahi hai, par family drama ke victim ho gaye," a character says in the film.
Anupam Kher is a seasoned actor, and he captured Dr. Singh's mannerisms with ease. The slow and stiff robotic moves, whispery speeches and expressionless face, were so well depicted, that it brings a smile. However, it was the Sootradhar (narrator Baru) played by Akshaye Khanna in sharp suits and smirking smiles, who steals the show.
The film has tried to glorify Dr. Singh. It will hurt only those, for whom Congress means the power-hungry Gandhi-Parivar and are scared seeing the any truth about the family.
The first half of the movie looks into PM's first term, and in many instances, the movie exposes the Gandhi family. It shows how Manmohan Singh, the weakest personality in the Congress coterie, was nominated by Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister of India that allowed her to assume complete power without any accountability or responsibility.
How Dr. Singh wanted to keep the finance ministry with himself but later ‘high command’ decided against PM’s wish. How the National Advisory Council (NAC), ran almost a parallel Govt. to supersede the decisions taken by PM and how Sonia defanged the PM's chair by controlling the government from the backdoor.
Like when PV Narasimha Rao died, his family wanted the body to be cremated at Rajghat, but Sonia Gandhi personally ensured that Rao’s dead body does not get the same treatment. However, it hid the fact that his body was not even allowed inside the AICC building.
Director Gutte didn't show the spine to showcase how spineless Dr. Singh was as the Prime Minister of India, instead acknowledged many of his achievements. Like his firmness on the Indo-US nuclear deal, dealing with states with an iron hand, when he says: ‘paise ped pe thodi ugate hai’ (Money is not free) to Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha asking for special package. The movie didn't show him granting the same package to Bihar, because Lalu was Congress's ally.
The second half looks into the second term of PM Singh and his gradual downward fall with an insight into party politics how Dr. Singh was made the sacrificial lamb for the scams that plagued his second term. However, the narrative rapidly starts sinking trying to chronicle ten years of the UPA government’s failings.
The movie lacks in finesse with an uneven storyline that jumps from one incident to another. The audience is expected to be up-to-date on political events that occurred more than a decade earlier.
The script reflects Baru's admiration for his old boss. “The entire country is your fan,” Baru tells Singh, without any proof. I do not recall the days when that happened.
However, credit to Gutte which he should get is that he kept real names of every character instead of hiding behind pseudonyms and shows them in the light they are perceived. While Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel is depicted as a scheming villain, he is also called the voice of Sonia in the film.
The writer/director did hesitate from venturing more into the scams which were a significant element of PM Singh's fall to the ashes. The writing felt very convenient at times that hides some bitter truth of PM Singh's tenure.
It creates an illusion of honest intellectual held captive on PM's chair, about a man whose Government came with a decree that ex-PMs will not have to pay for power bills and who procured back-dated ration card, fudged rent receipts to claim being ‘‘ordinary resident’’ of Assam for Rajya Sabha nomination.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were one and the same person.
Even when the whole of India was outraged and wanted an explanation from him of limitless scams of his government, all he had to offer was this: “हज़ारों जवाबों से अच्छी है मेरी खामोशी; न जाने कितने सवालों की आबरू रखी.”
Even after the incident of Rahul Gandhi tearing the ordinance, that Dr. Singh brought, in full public glare, he wasn’t willing to give up. The statement “Will be pleased to work under Rahul Ji's leadership,” he made, wasn't featured in the film.
Dr. Singh is a living symbol of cowardice, complicity, and had an inordinate attachment to power, who never stood up to Sonia Gandhi and like a slave, he was actively complicit in every thuggery that Sonia pulled.
I would still recommend that every Indian must see the movie to even remotely know what happened to India when Dr. Singh was PM and Sonia was ruling.
Though, the history will not judge Dr. Singh as kindly as this film did.
Rating: *** (3/5).
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