Once upon a time, Indira Gandhi requested Satyajit Ray to make a documentary on her father, Jawaharlal Nehru. The trio needs no introduction. Anyway, Ray flatly refused. He bluntly told Gandhi: “No, because I am not interested.” She took Ray’s ‘no’ graciously. She was not vindictive – and she certainly did not nag and pester him to change his mind. Ray later explained that he was not interested because it was too early to make a film on the country’s first Prime Minister; he genuinely believed that it would take a few decades for all the blind adulation to subside and allow any objective assessment of Nehru to emerge.
Cut to present-day West Bengal and one can’t help but notice that the political class and the film fraternity are not only hobnobbing but are entangled in a full-blooded affair. The liaison is evident from the sheer number of actors fielded by the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party; especially the former; in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections for 42 seats.
Out of nine film stars in the poll fray, six have been fielded by the Trinamool Congress and three by the BJP.