The film on Arvind Kejriwal titled 'An Insignificant Man' will debut at Toronto film festival next month.
There is no love lost between Arvind Kejriwal and the central government. But a biopic on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief is set to hit the screens only because of the support of a government-run film body.
The film "An Insignificant Man" by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla chronicles the spectacular rise of the former taxman, an IIT graduate, from campaigner to fledgling politician to chief minister of Delhi.
NDTV has learnt that the National Film Development Corporation or NFDC, which reports to the information and broadcasting ministry, was the first to support the film in 2014 by selecting it as part of the "work in progress" category in the Film Bazaar for the Indian film festival.
Pitched as a portrayal of the "Bernie Sanders of India", the film will debut at the Toronto film festival next month.
"We worked as ordinary citizens armed with the tools of journalism - a camera, a mic and curiosity," Vinay Shukla told IANS news agency.
The film was launched with the working title of "Proposition for a Revolution". After its turn at the festival, the directors didn't find it hard to swing crowd-funding.
Around 400 hours of behind-the scenes footage shot over a year has been crunched into a 90-minute film. The makers promise a peak into ugly arguments as well as furious planning as India's newest party tried to find its feet in politics.
"The funding is justified. We just knew that independent filmmakers made it," says AAP leader Dileep Pandey, surprised that the project was funded by a central government body.
The film body, asked about its support to a project on a man who has been targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP with increasing frequency and bitterness, denies mentoring it.
"There was no sponsorship of this film by NFDC at any stage," insisted Nina Lath, the corporation's chief.
Information and Broadcasting ministry sources said NFDC only provides a platform to promote films. "One cannot be selective about films," said a ministry official.
However, industry insiders point out that it was the NFDC's selection which helped finish the film and brought it crowd-funding.