Hindi Features

From ‘Tashkent’ To ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, Bollywood Is Finally Embracing Political Biopics

Political biopics make interesting stories, be it Ben Kingsley’s inspirational Gandhi or Mani Ratnam’s gripping Iruvar. Films help decode the complex political movements and humanise the personalities behind it. Making political biopics, especially in a country like India comes with the trappings of censorship, political interference and coercion, and presenting historical facts without tailoring it to suit the mood of the nation. And political biopics are currently the flavour of the season. Last year, the crowd-funded An Insignificant Man, written and directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, on the mercurial rise of Arvind Kejriwal and his party Aam Aadmi Party was received well despite it’s limited release. There are quite a few political biopics currently in the pipeline and the hope is that the story will remain true to history without getting Bollywood-ised.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Bal Thackeray biopic

Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be playing the role of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, a radical and controversial Hindutva icon from Mumbai, who was accused of being instrumental in the 1993 Hindu-Muslim riots. The teaser of this upcoming movie was released in December last year. Interestingly, Nawazuddin had shared the teaser on Twitter referring to Bal Thackeray as the ‘real king’ of the country. The movie is written by MP Sanjay Raut. It will be made in Hindi, Marathi, and English as well. Directed by Abhijit Panse, the film is going to hit the theaters on January 23, 2019.

Narendra Modi biopic

Directed by Mitesh Patel, the movie – based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – is set to go on floors this March. The film is going to be made with a whooping budget of Rs 40 crores. Interestingly, the film will touch upon the Gujarat 2002 riots, a dark chapter in the career of Modi. It is being penned by Mihir Bhuta and Kishore Makwana. Renowned actor Paresh Rawal, who has also been a vocal supporter of Modi and his brand of politics, is going to play the titular role.

Tashkent Files

Directed by yet another Modi supporter, Vivek Agnihotri’s Tashkent is another upcoming political movie. It is going to focus on the suspicious death of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah will be playing the protagonist.

Shastri died in Tashkent, then in the Soviet Union’s Uzbekistan, soon after signing a peace pact with Pakistan to end the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

The Accidental Prime Minister

The movie has been written by Hansal Mehta. Anupam Kher will be in the lead portraying India’s former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Reportedly, Suzanne Bernert has been roped in to play Sonia Gandhi’s character. The movie is going to hit the theatres on December 21. It is being directed by Vijay Gutte.

On his role, Kher had earlier said, “Acting the role of anyone in contemporary history is extremely challenging, as comparisons are bound to be instant and inevitable. But as I have always revelled in challenges, right from my first film Saaransh, I look forward to the experience of portraying PM Manmohan Singh.”

The film is based on the book The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh by Sanjaya Baru who worked at the Prime Minister’s Office between 2004 and 2008. Akshaye Khanna will be portraying the author.

Sanju

Based on actor Sanjay Dutt’s life, the film features Ranbir Kapoor in the lead. Sanjay Dutt has had a colourful past outside his career. He made his acting debut in 1981 and has since appeared in more than 100 Hindi films. Dutt was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in April 1993 and has served jail time.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Charges of terrorism were dropped, but he was convicted of illegal possession of weapons. After serving his sentence with good behaviour and conduct, he was released on February 25, 2016.  The film will also show his struggle with drugs, alcoholism and relationship with his late actor-politician father, Sunil Dutt.

Sanju is directed by Rajkumar Hirani and is set to hit the screens on June 29, 2018.

Ever since the release of the trailer, Rajkummar Rao’s new look has been the talk of the town. Directed by Hansal Mehta, Omerta is based on the life of British terrorist of Pakistani descent Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who was behind the killing of American journalist, Daniel Pearl. The movie will take us into the ghettos, sleeper cells of ISIS, focus on state-sponsored terrorism and how it manipulates young minds into believing a sordid interpretation of jihad.

Mehta said at the trailer launch said: “Omerta takes a look at this complex paradox of a man called Omar Saeed Sheikh. It was a difficult subject to choose and a challenge to make. The film looks at what it means to be a fundamentalist and for someone to pick up a gun with the intent of killing in return for an afterlife in paradise. Omerta is among the most researched films that I have worked on till date. We actually visited some of the places frequented by Omar in London during his transformation from a LSE graduate to becoming a deadly terrorist.”

Omerta is set to hit the screens on April 20.

 

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