Despite being unanimously panned by critics for its performances and weak storytelling, Vijay Ratnakar Gutte’s The Accidental Prime Minister is drawing the audience to theatres. After getting off to a decent start and earning Rs 4.50 crore on its opening day, the film witnessed a boost on Saturday. According to early estimates, it made around Rs 6 crore, taking its total collection so far to around Rs 10.50 crore.
Based on Sanjaya Baru’s book of the same name, The Accidental Prime Minister claims that then-Congress president Sonia Gandhi controlled the workings of the PMO during Dr Manmohan Singh’s two-term tenure as prime minister.
The Accidental Prime Minister has been at the receiving end of backlash for allegedly attacking the Congress, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, Anupam Kher, who plays Dr Manmohan Singh in the film, refuted allegations that it favoured the ruling party. “We have made this film with a lot of sincerity and we don’t have any political agenda behind the release of the film,” he told IANS in an interview.
Meanwhile, The Accidental Prime Minister has been facing a few roadblocks. In some parts of the country, like Kolkata and Ludhiana, the screening was interrupted by violent protestors and theatres were vandalised. Anupam Kher took to Twitter to condemn the acts of hooliganism and urged the champions of free speech to speak up.
The other Bollywood release this week is Aditya Dhar’s Uri: The Surgical Strike, which features Vicky Kaushal, Yami Gautam and Paresh Rawal in key roles. The film, which currently stands at around Rs 20 crore, is faring better than The Accidental Prime Minister at the box office. It remains to be seen if the tables turn on Sunday.
