The trailer of The Accidental Prime Minister has sparked controversy. The film 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 and is based on the eponymous book by Singh's media advisor Sanjaya Baru.
Citing "incorrect presentation of the facts" as a reason, Maharashtra Youth Congress on 27 December announced that they wouldn’t allow the film to be screened if their demand of a prior screening is not met. According to an ANI report, Maharashtra Youth Congress wrote to the makers of the film that if some scenes are not found to be factual, they should be deleted.
“If the said movie is released without prior screening for our office bearers and without making necessary changes recommended by us that we find out after viewing the movie it will be understood that you are doing this deliberately and we have other options open to stop the screening of the same across India,” reads the Congress letter.
When Anupam Kher was asked at the trailer launch, whether he is worried that the film can be opposed by Congress since makers have depicted a controversial relationship between Dr. Singh and the Congress party, he said, "I feel you have to be little more careful because people take only two minutes to criticise you. I feel this has to be perceived as a film and it shouldn't get into controversy because of its political background because you need to have guts to make this film and I must say our director and producers have the guts.”
“Our Maharashtra unit has asked the filmmakers to hold a special screening for the party before the movie is released. If they do not hold the screening, we will move court,” said Amrish Pandey, Youth Congress president.
Source: IANS, ANI, The Indian Express
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