Film: Mere Pyare Prime Minister
Cast: Anjali Patil, Om Kanojiya, Niteesh Wadhwa, Rasika Agashe, Makarand Deshpande
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Rating: * *
Issues relating to open defecation becomes grist for yet another ‘Toilet’ story this one revolving around the safety of women. A woman (Anjali Patil) is raped while going out at night to defecate and her son, Kunnu (Om Kanojia) takes it upon himself to bring a toilet to his locality and in turn appraise the Prime Minister, through letter, for the burning need for such noble efforts.
We have already seen one too many of these ‘Toilet’ based stories (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha being one of the better, more amiable ones, Halkaa – tending to distasteful) and frankly, this one comes at a time when we are up to our gills in tedium inducing public service propaganda masquerading as a cause celebre.
We all know that such films enjoy political patronage and filmmakers entertain these topics in an effort to curry favour with the administration. I will leave you to guess what Rakesysh Omprakash Mehra’s reasoning was but needless to say, this one is a listless and unengaging exercise in filmmaking.
It might seem heroic that young kids are making strident efforts in bringing about change in the social landscape but when it’s told in dry, almost relentless monotony, it all seems rather fruitless. Even Om Kanojia’s enthusiasm and Anjali Patil’s restraint don’t make this film a worthy cause!
