This Article is From Dec 28, 2018

Won't Back Off From 'The Accidental Prime Minister', Says Anupam Kher

Anupam Kher also took a swipe at Maharashtra Youth Congress' threat to stop the release unless it is first shown to them, saying they should be happy a film has been made on their leader.

Won't Back Off From 'The Accidental Prime Minister', Says Anupam Kher

The trailer drew sharp reactions from the Congress, which dubbed it a "propaganda film".

Mumbai:

Calling "The Accidental Prime Minister" his "life's best performance", actor Anupam Kher on Friday said he will not back off from the snowballing controversy over the film on former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

The actor, who plays the title role in the movie, also took a swipe at Maharashtra Youth Congress' threat to stop the release unless it is first shown to them, saying they should be happy a film has been made on their leader.

"I am not going to back off. This is my life's best performance. #DrManmohanSingh will agree after seeing the film that it is a 100% accurate depiction," Mr Kher tweeted.

The trailer of the film, based on the book of the same name by Sanjay Baru who served as Dr Singh's media advisor 2004 to 2008, was released on Thursday.

It depicts Dr Singh as a victim of Congress' internal politics ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The trailer drew sharp reactions from the Congress, which dubbed it a "propaganda film". The party's Maharashtra youth wing wrote a letter to the producers of the films to demand a special screening.

"They should be happy that a film has been made on their leader. They should bring the crowd to watch the film as it has dialogues such as 'Will I sell my country?' which shows how great Manmohan Singh ji is," Mr Kher said.

"The more they protest, the more publicity they will give to the film. The book has been out since 2014, no protests were held since then, so the film is based on that," he said.

Mr Kher also referred to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's recent statement that freedom of expression is a fundamental right. This was in response to a party leader objecting to the language used to describe his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, in the Netflix series "Sacred Games".

"I had read Rahul Gandhi ji's tweet where he spoke about freedom of expression. So I think he should scold these people and tell them they are doing wrong."

Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, the film stars Mr Kher as Manmohan Singh and Akshaye Khanna as Sanjay Baru.

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