Political films are the flavour of Bollywood in 2019 ahead of Lok Sabha polls but according to filmmaker Prakash Jha these movies have no effect on elections. While “Uri: The Surgical Strike” and “The Accidental Prime Minister” were the first releases of the new year, other films in the polarised political space to follow through are “Thackeray” and “The Tashkent Files”.
“The Accidental Prime Minister”, starring Anupam Kher as former prime minister Manmohan Singh and based on a book by his former media advisor, released amid accusations that it portrays the Gandhi family in poor light. The Congress termed the film “propaganda” ahead of the general elections.
But Jha says labelling the films is not a new phenomenon as even his film, the critically-acclaimed “Raajneeti” (2010) was called a propaganda film. “People will call films what they want to. They were hurt when I made ‘Raajneeti’. What propaganda will happen in ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’? All this propaganda will not affect the outcome of the elections,” the director said.
Jha, whose filmography stands on a string of sociopolitical features such as “Mrityudand”, “Gangaajal” films and “Apaharan”, said the entire scenario shifts when there are elections. “You can put your heart and soul to do things, but it won’t matter. All values and connotations change when it’s election time. Why do people vote and don’t, it all means something different in this country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jha’s production “Fraud Saiyyan”, featuring Arshad Warsi and Saurabh Shukla, is slated to be released Friday.Political films don’t influence outcome of elections, says Prakash Jha
