The trailer of the upcoming movie The Accidental Prime Minister, which was released last year in December, has invited wide criticism for allegedly showing Congress government and the Gandhi family in ‘bad light’. This had led a lawyer named Sudhir Kumar Ojha to file a case against the actors of the movie for ‘damaging the image of some top people’. The case was filed in Muzaffarpur’s Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on January 3.
According to reports, the Sub Divisional Judge (East) Gaurab Kamal has ordered the Kanti police station in the Muzaffarpur district to lodge an FIR against the actors mentioned by Ojha in the plea. The FIR will be lodged against Anupam Kher portraying Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Akshay Khana essaying the role of Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru, on whose book the movie is based on.
Besides Kher and Khanna, FIRs will also be launched against other actors and actresses who have performed the roles of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra along with the movie’s producers Sunil Bohra and Dhaval Gada and director Vijay Gutte.
Ojha had filed the complaint under IPC sections 295, 153, 153A, 293, 504 and 120B relating to promoting enmity between different groups, the sale of obscene objects, insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal conspiracy.
A similar plea was submitted in Delhi High court, citing an alleged violation of section 416 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 416 of the IPC prohibits impersonation of a person with intent to harm. Court has asked petitioner Pooja Mahajan (represented by Arun Maitri) to convert her plea into a PIL.
The petitioner had also cited the fact that, movie makers had not obtained any NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi etc., which is a prerequisite according to the laid norms Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for making a biopic, involving real-life people.
The movie is based on a book authored by Sanjaya Baru, Manmohan Singh’s media advisor during UPA-regime, of the same name. Several Congress leaders have spoken against the movie, and the Maharashtra unit of Youth Congress had sent a letter to the producers of the movie asking for a special screening for them before the theatrical release of the movie, so that they can censor it.
They had also threatened to prevent the screening of the movie if it is not screened for them and edited as per their demands. The movie will hit the theatres on January 11. The movie will release along with another movie Uri: The Surgical Strike, based on 2016 covert surgical strikes launched by Indian forces.