The movie-The Accidental Prime Minister may have elicited controversy even before its release but post release in Dehradun, cinema goers in general are liking action movie Uri-The Surgical Strike more than the biographical movie which had ruffled the feathers of some Congress supporters.
While Uri-The Surgical Strike registered house full on two days since its launch, lesser number of people are visiting the screenings of The Accidental Prime Minister in places this correspondent visited in Dehradun.
The general opinion of the audience is that the teaser of The Accidental Prime Minister was not that attractive and interesting compared to that of Uri: The Surgical Strike. Also, some viewers were of the view that the movie based on the biography of Manmohan Singh during his Prime Ministerial term is influenced by political factors.
It should be mentioned here that directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte and written by Mayank Tewari, The Accidental Prime Minister stars Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh and is based on the biogaphical book by Sanjaya Baru, who was Singh’s media advisor from 2004 to 2008. Uri:The Surgical Strike is an action film written and directed by Aditya Dhar, starring Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina and Yami Gautam. It is based on the surgical strike conducted by the Indian Army in 2016 in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
Local cinema-goer Ratnendra Singh Bisht said, “I believe that The Accidental Prime Minister appears more of a propaganda based story. The movie is nice but is slow overall. I would say it more of a one-time watch.”
The youth of Dehradun appeared to be favouring Uri… more than the political movie. Himanshu Chauhan said, “I watched Uri: The Surgical Strike as the trailer depicted the thrill and action in the story. The teaser of The Accidental Prime Minister was not appealing enough.”
According to the manager of the Silver City complex, in the first two days of The Accidental Prime Minister, the audience was limited-not even a single show went houseful but Uri: The Surgical Strike had three to four house full shows since its release. The same scenario was visible in the Mukta Cinema at Crossroads Roads Uri…had more house full shows than The Accidental Prime Minister. Vajid Ali, the manager of the Mukta Cinema said, “We are receiving a good response to Uri: The Surgical Strike especially from the youth. The shows of this movie are going house full quite fast. The response to The Accidental Prime Minister is not that great. People in a certain age group–in their 40s or 50s are more interested to watch The Accidental Prime Minister,” he added.