Kher to play ex-PM in Manmohan biopic
Scheduled to be released a few months before the 2019 general elections, this one aims to hit the Congress hard. On Wednesday, Anupam Kher, who plays the title role in the film on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, unveiled posters of the movie.
The film is based on the book Accidental Prime Minister authored by the former PM’s media advisor Sanjay Baru. The movie is scheduled for release in December 2018. National award-winning director Hansal Mehta has written the screenplay and the movie is directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte.
The selection of Anupam Kher to play Manmohan Singh and the timing of the release has raised many eyebrows. While Kher is an outspoken fan of Narendra Modi, his wife, Kiron, is the BJP MP from Chandigarh.
Baru, who worked as the media advisor of Dr Manmohan Singh during his first term as PM, suggests in his book that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had more authority than Dr Singh in the functioning of the government, portraying him as a helpless gentleman.
The book had also created controversy for highlighting Manmohan Singh’s handling of corruption within his government. “Dr Singh’s general attitude towards corruption in public life seemed to me to be that he would himself maintain the highest standards of probity in public life, but would not impose this on others,” Baru wrote.