The Accidental Prime Minister

January 14, 2019 4 Comments

There is a similarity between politics and movies. They both sacrificing facts over drama and portrayals. 

However, like life, Not all that you portray gets as perceived. Over drama can often lead to loss of credibility. And that holds quite true with the film- The Accidental Prime Minister.

The Accidental Prime Minister is a film based on Sanjaya Baru's Memoir of the same name. The pre-release controversies and the timing when elections are around got the film quite some eye-balls. Smart move!

Plot

The film "aims" to portray ex-PM Manmohan Singh's Tenure in PM office. Especially in words of his political aide and media advisor- Sanjaya Baru. 

I have not read the book, nor was I inside the inner corridors of power to ascertain the truth from the drama. So I will give you a movie review strictly from an entertainment and creative part.

The film is a political drama- highlighting the making of the PM Manmohan Singh and his tenure. It briefly talks about his standing in PMO, his contribution to the nuclear deal etc. However, there is a little story from his side. 

Anupam Kher played the titular role rather caricaturish-ly. I believe the former PM and economist of his stature deserved better than this. Though the actor mastered the body language quite well, a lot of time you feel that he performing for an animated movie rather than a real movie. The baritone was quite irritating and looked more Disney than the erstwhile PM. 

Akshay Khanna and not Kumar [thank god] played the role of Sanjaya Baru and he played it so well. Baru is a journalist turned media advisor who insists on reporting directly to the PM, and ably sails him through public appearances. His scenes with PM and other ministers were cliches as well as interesting. 

Akshay Khanna played this role to the T. He is confident, intelligent and loyal. He was quite brilliant even in the OTT breaking the 4th wall kind of chatter, a la Kevin Spacey from a house of Cards. He got a stronger character and played it well too. Have you noticed his well-tailored suits and overall fashion style? I did. Besides, I liked the overall styling of his character. 

The good thing about the movie was the caste. Except for Baru, a lot of characters looked exactly like the real-life politicians they played without changing the names. 

Some good performances came from Sussane Burnett as Sonia Gandhi, Arjun Mathur as more intelligent looking Rahul Gandhi. 

Ahana Kumra as Priyanka was a wasted prop for a scene wherein they could have taken anyone and made them wear the wig. Paise bachte aur expectations bhi

The narration was incoherent. The scenes moved from one narration to another without stitching enough details. The writer of this film is the same guy who wrote "Newton" and in spite of having a readily available book, wonder what went wrong when it came to stitching the story. What an opportunity wasted.  Wish someone diligent did this film to give it creative justice. 

The Accidental Prime Minister turned to be less of Manmohan Singh but more of Sanjay Baru, brilliantly essayed by Akshay Khanna. At some parts, the movie was largely emphasizing on the power center. Dude, power centers do exist. And if they don't exist in politics, people will rip them apart. There is a wolf every corner