The Accidental Prime Minister (film)

The Accidental Prime Minister is a 2019 Indian biographical drama film directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte and written by Mayank Tewari, based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru. It was produced by the Bohra Bros under Rudra Production (UK), in association with Jayantilal Gada under the banner of Pen India Limited. It stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh, the economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014 under the United Progressive Alliance.

The film was released on 11 January 2019, and received mixed reviews from critics  It earned a moderate opening of ₹4.50 crore at the box office on its first day and ₹30.52 crore as of January 24.

Plot
Based on the memoir by Indian policy analyst Sanjaya Baru, The Accidental Prime Minister explores Manmohan Singh's tenure as the Prime Minister of India, and the kind of control he had over his cabinet and the country.

Cast

 * Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of Republic of India during 2004 to 2014.
 * Akshaye Khanna as Sanjaya Baru, political commentator and Media Advisor to the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2008.
 * Suzanne Bernert as Sonia Gandhi, former president of Indian National Congress.
 * Aahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Sonia Gandhi.
 * Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia Gandhi
 * Abdul Quadir Amin as Ajay Singh
 * Vimal Verma as Lalu Prasad Yadav
 * Avtar Sahni as Lal Krishna Advani
 * Anil Rastogi as Shivraj Patil
 * Ajit Satbhai as P. V. Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India.
 * Chitragupta Sinha as P. V. Ranga Rao, elder son of P. V. Narasimha Rao
 * Vipin Sharma as Ahmed Patel
 * Divya Seth Shah as Gursharan Kaur
 * Shiv Kumar Subramaniam as P. Chidambaram
 * Munish Bhardwaj as Kapil Sibal
 * Ram Avtar as Atal Bihari Vajpayee
 * Sunil Kothari as APJ Abdul Kalam
 * Atul Kumar as JN " Mani" Dixit
 * Anish Kuruvilla as T. K. A. Nair
 * Prakash Belawadi as MK Narayanan
 * Madan Joshi as Brajesh Mishra
 * Pradeep Chakravarti as Pranab Mukherjee
 * Yogesh Tripathy as Natwar Singh
 * Bobby Parvez as Pulok Chatterji
 * Anil Zankar as Sitaram Yechury
 * Hansal Mehta as Naveen Patnaik
 * Vimal Verma as Lalu Prasad Yadav
 * Deepak Gheewala as N. Ram
 * Naval Shukla as Yashwant Sinha
 * Deepak Dadwal as Jaswant Singh
 * Ashok Sagar Bhagat as Arjun Singh
 * Ramesh Bhatkar as Prithviraj Chavan
 * Subhash Tyagi as Mulayam Singh Yadav
 * Manoj Tiger as Amar Singh
 * Adarsh Gautam as Pakistan Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani
 * Chembur Hari as AK Antony
 * Kishor Jaykar as George Fernandes
 * Aazam Khan as Ghulam Nabi Azad
 * Vijay Singh as Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
 * Askari Naqvi as Vir Sanghvi
 * Pradeep Kuckreja as Prakash Karat
 * Gull Jolly as Daman Singh
 * Archana Sharma as Chiki Sarkar

Production
Principal photography begun on 31 March 2018 in London. The London-based shooting schedule concluded on 21 April 2018. In India, most of the shoot occurred in New Delhi which later wrapped up on 4 July 2018.

Marketing and release
The first look of the film was released on 6 June 2017 through Anupam Kher's official Twitter handle. New poster of the film giving date of release of the film and trailer presented on 27 December 2018. With launch of new poster the release date has been advanced to 11 January 2019.

A new look poster of the film has been released by TAP official on 3 January 2019.

The Hindi version film was released on 11 January 2019 on 1300 screens in India and 140 in overseas. The Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions released on 18 January 2019.

Critical response
The Economic Times has given the film 3.5 stars out of 5, describing the film as "well-crafted" and Kher's portrayal of Manmohan Singh "a convincing act".

Utkarsh Mishra reviewing the film for Rediff.com, gives the film 2.5 stars out of 5, observes that the movie if carefully watched comes out as "well made", he criticises Kher for over dramatising Singh's walking style.

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, noting that “The Accidental Prime Minister is neither hugely entertaining nor engagingly dramatic.” Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express sums up the retort: "The Accidental Prime Minister is an out-an-out propaganda film, created for the specific purpose of making the former prime minister look like a weak, spineless man, a puppet whose strings were controlled by The Family".

The Times of India's Ronak Kotecha gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 stating "Bollywood has produced several political dramas that are intense, complex and dark, The Accidental Prime Minister has all of that in measured tones."

Box office
In opening weekend the film collected ₹11.90 crore from India. It grossed ₹29.04 crore from domestic circuit and inr 28300000 from overseas making it ₹31.87 crore worldwide.

Historical accuracy
Ajaz Ashraf writing for the Firstpost felt that the trailer of the film seemed to suggest that Sanjaya Baru was the media adviser and chief spokesperson of Manmohan Singh during 2011 period of scams. However, Baru was only in this position during May 2004 to August 2008. The book ends in May 2009 when UPA returned to power following 2009 Indian general election. Baru had written 14-page epilogue with speculations and questions which is used as a pivotal subject in the film.

Single Track
The single track is composed by Sandhu Tiwari while lyrics are written by Baba Ngarjun.

Controversy
In 2017, former Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani had said that the filmmakers will need to obtain a No-objection certificates from former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Indian National Congress President Rahul Gandhi for the film.

Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party promoted the trailer through their official Twitter account. Reacting to this, a Congress spokesperson alleged that the film was "political propaganda". Upon the release of the trailer, the Congress party's Maharashtra youth wing in a letter to the producers of the films raised objections to the “incorrect presentation of the facts” and demanded a special screening of the film. They later withdrew the order, intending to not publicize the film.

On 2 January 2019, lead actor Anupam Kher tweeted that people were reporting that the film's trailer was unseen as a top search result while being directly searched for on Youtube. The newspaper India Today conducted their own search, and confirmed Kher's allegations, noting that only after the following day was the trailer returned to its position as a top search result. This led to speculation that the trailer had initially been removed intentionally as part of an anti-propaganda campaign. On 8 January 2019, a local court in Bihar ordered FIR against Anupam Kher and thirteen other associated with the film for defaming political leaders.