Mumbai:
As he walks slowly wearing a white kurta-pyjama and a light blue turban, anyone could mistake him for the most powerful man in India -- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But Delhi-based transporter Gurmeet Singh Sethi does not mind.
So much so that he even accepted an offer from TV personality Suhaib Ilyasi of "India's Most Wanted" fame to be the part of a film that highlights the misuse of the Dowry Act against men. The role he is playing is not hard to guess! The film, 498A + A Wedding Gift, produced by Ilyasi, briefly features Sethi in his role as the Indian Prime Minister. "Suhaib asked me if I would do the role of our honourable prime minister and so I thought over it and accepted it," Sethi said.
Ilyasi, who claimed that he himself had been a victim of Section 498A (Dowry Act of the Indian Penal Code) and was even arrested under it after his wife committed suicide, said, "When we approached him, he was very sceptical that the role should not offend the Prime Minister.
"So he thoroughly read that script, got the approval of a friend, and ex-judge of the Supreme Court. After he was satisfied, he accepted the role." Sethi may not be part of the high-profile power circles in New Delhi but he was once a member of the Congress party.
"Once I was sitting in a Congress party meeting and Sonia Gandhiji kept looking at me, talking for 15 minutes. Even the media there had their cameras focussed on me. It is funny how people mistake me for Manmohan Singhji," he claimed.
"In the film, a bunch of advocates come up to me and say that Section 498A should be amended and I say I will look into the matter and see what can be done," he said, explaining his short role in the movie.