The Accidental PM Review - The Accidental Propaganda Movie.

By himself, the titular PM in The Accidental Prime Minister is the perfect character. He’s unknown, awkward yet witty, and his ten year tenure as the most powerful man of one of the most populous nations in the world remains, largely, a mystery. He was silent, never using his words, but his wisdom. It’s perhaps then fitting that he gets a biopic that does exactly the opposite - there’s a lot of words, not a lot of wisdom. The Accidental Prime Minister, directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, is a thinly veiled attempt at propaganda. In fact, it makes Sonia and Rahul Gandhi look like lecherous villains straight out of a Hitchcock movie.

Suzanne Bernert, a German actress portraying the fascinating woman, referred to only as ‘Madam’, is so inept at bringing this character to life, that she reduces her to squinty eyes, pouting lips and lots of posturing. Rahul, played by Arjun Mathur, isn’t much better. The writers show him as a bumbling fool, who doesn’t know what he’s saying. The background score also swells whenever he’s on screen, almost in disbelief that this is a man contesting elections. It’s childish and mediocre, and neither Bernert or Mathur are good enough actors to work despite these narrative bumps.

It’s also surprising that two of Indian cinema’s greats - Akshaye Khanna and Anupam Kher - have been sucked into making this drivel. Akshaye plays Media Advisor to the PM, Sanjaya Baru, on whose book - The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh - this film is based. He constantly breaks the fourth wall and talks to us, and Akshaye lends a hint of swagger and smirk to the part, but this device, derivative of Frank Underwood in House of Cards and the potty-mouthed Deadpool, is overused, because the writing itself is just terrible. And then, there’s Dr. Singh.

Anupam is a fine actor, but he seems so concerned with the physicality of the role - the swinging arms, the awkward walk, the high pitched voice - that he doesn’t lend anything else to it. He has no shades of grey, or as Sanjaya puts it, he’s like Bhishm from the Mahabharat - inme koi burai nahi hai par family drama ke victim ho gaye. The script also positions him as merely a pawn in the game of Sonia and Rahul. For the most part, Anupam looks confused, like a little child. His portrayal is dangerously close to mimicry and caricature. The role is never fleshed out fully, and is 2D for the most part. We never see Dr. Singh react, he only stands there, like a statue cut from alabaster.

But, the thing that takes you out of the movie watching experience is the technical sloppiness of it all. The film has these intercuts of real life news clippings, with the actual Dr. Manmohan Singh in them. In the few instances where Anupam’s face has been digitally doctored on, it looks like tacky and mediocre. Also, a lot of the film, especially scenes set in banquet halls, is digitally shot on a green screen. It looks amateurish. And then, there’s the OTT background score that is loud, that after a point, I couldn’t hear a word of what was being said.

It begs the question - there were talented people associated with this film, like Newton writer Mayank Tewari and filmmaker Hansal Mehta - so where is the coherence in the narrative? There’s no connective tissue joining scenes, the film skips months and years, almost like the writers tore pages out of Baru’s book and decided to shoot them word for word. The main culprit is of course, co-writer-director Gutte, whose propaganda piece falters on two counts - both on artistic creativity and artistic sensibility.

Of course, it all culminates in 2014, where we’re told that the UPA government had their biggest loss ever. Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi is championed as the hero who swoops in and saves the day. Like, I said thinly veiled propaganda.

The Accidental PM should have stood for The Accidental Propaganda Movie. We deserve better, don’t we?