Films on emergency were banned

New Delhi: With the electoral turf getting tricker and tougher by the day, all eyes in the saffron camp are now centred on three forthcoming films - The Accidental Prime Minister, Indira and Narendra Modi’s biopic.  

Actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal, who plays the role of Mr Modi in the biopic, when asked how events like the Gujarat riots would be depicted, told a national daily: “Everything will be there. The notion that people have... The people who are roaming around acting as the judiciary... their notion will also be tackled.” Responding to a query “Can we expect that there would be no attempt to glorify him?”, he replied: “Don’t worry, everything will be there.”

Actor Vidya Balan plays Indira Gandhi in an adaptation of Sagarika Ghose’s biography. Paresh Rawal, who plays Mr Modi, had said: “Only I can play Modi. I say that even at the cost of sounding pompous because I really love him. I understand whatever he says.”

All these films and the Web series are expected to be released before the big battle of 2019. A BJP leader who sought anonymity while talking of the impact of movies, recalled two films Nasbandi and Aandhi which were decades ago banned by the then Congress government for their “negative and controversial portrayal” of then PM Indira Gandhi. Nasbandi, a 1978 Bollywood film, directed by I.S. Johar, was a satire on the sterilisation drive by the government during Indira Gandhi’s days. The film was banned after its release due to its portrayal of the Indira Gandhi government and its compulsory sterilisation drive during the Emergency. The ban was lifted after a change of government.

Similarly, Aandhi, directed by Gulzar, was not allowed a full release while Indira Gandhi was in power.