The trailer of The Accidental Prime Minister, a political drama based on a book by former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru, was released on Thursday. The trailer generated quite a buzz on social media. But what got most talking online was the fact that it was shared by the official Twitter handle of the BJP, @BJP4India.
“Riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years. Was Dr Singh just a regent who was holding on to the PM’s chair till the time heir was ready?” the official handle wrote on the micro-blogging site.
Riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years. Was Dr Singh just a regent who was holding on to the PM’s chair till the time heir was ready? Watch the official trailer of #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister, based on an insider’s account, releasing on 11 Jan! pic.twitter.com/ToliKa8xaH
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 27, 2018
The tweet garnered a lot of attention, however, not for the reason the party would have wanted. While most were surprised as to how a ruling party can openly endorse a film based on the Opposition and a previous government, others argued that with their endorsement, the credibility of the “insider’s account”has now been maligned. Sample these:
A political party endorsing a Bollywood movie is definitely not ‘Acche Din’
— Nikhil Jain (@YeHaiSpartaa) December 28, 2018
Never knew a political party can campaign for a commercial film … Desperate! https://t.co/JWQhlvetsl
— Rathish M Saravanan (@dearrathish) December 28, 2018
I had some expectations… but with BJP making this such obvious political movie and @AnupamPKher seems to be over acting, will have to miss it.. book was good though. Wasted an awesome subject https://t.co/3p76EoMVKI
— Santosh Thourani (@smalltownsanta) December 28, 2018
Is it the first time that a national party of BJP's scale is promoting a movie trailer? Is this movie an instrument to humiliate one of the most learned PM's the country ever had… hopefully not. https://t.co/rjNjEHCoPk
— RaktimⓂ️ (@1cosmicguru) December 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/sachinxtweets/status/1078514250044268544
The Vijay Gutte directorial is set to release on January 11 and stars Akshaye Khanna as Sanjaya Baru, who served as the media advisor of Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2008.
