It is not very often that one bumps into Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After all, just getting within 10 yards of him is a Herculean task. So when you spot him at the Films Division Auditorium with just two commandos in tow, wearing his signature white kurta-pyjama, a light blue turban and black slip-ons — you do a double take. At the Press preview of the film Wedding Gift he follows you, finds the hall packed, turns around and leaves!
What kind of a Prime Minister does thatIJ What kind of organisers can’t find a seat for a Prime MinisterIJ Why does he walk around and pose for picturesIJ Most, importantly, why are there only two security personnel with himIJ So bemused are you that when the PR introduces you to Prime Minister Gurmit Singh Sethi, it hardly registers on you that the name is wrong.
However, this is not the first time that Sethi has been mistaken for Manmohan Singh. In 2004 when the UPA first came to power, Sethi had accompanied Manmohan Singh to the swearing-in ceremony. Everybody then mistook him for the big man himself. “I’ve got used to the reaction people have when they see me. ‘That’s PM Manmoahn Singh’ is what I hear everyday. I remember when Manmohan Singhji was to take oath in 2004, I was standing outside Rashtrapati Bhawan. The media started quizzing me. ‘Shouldn’t you be insideIJ,’ one of them asked,” the 66-year-old says, adding that the real Prime Minister had come for his son’s wedding. The fact that he is a member of the Youth Congress and has family connections with Manmohan Singh “who considers me his younger brother” means that Sethi has to conduct himself with dignity and care in public.
Sethi heads a transport business in the Capital and tells you that it is sheer chance that he resembles the nation’s Prime Minister. “It is not as if I do make-up and roam the streets of Delhi seeking publicity. This is how I look. Because of this people call me for events. That is how I got role in Wedding Gift. I made one thing clear to director Sohaib Illyasi — I would not do anything that showed Manmohan Singhji in a negative light,” Sethi tells you. He plays a cameo as the Prime Minister in this movie based on abuse of Section 498 (A) of the IPC.
“In the film, a few lawyers come to me (as in the Prime Minister) and tell me that there is a need to change Section 498(A). I take the petition and promise to look into it. That is the sum total of my role,” Sethi states.
He also tells you that since there is need to amend this controversial section, he said yes to the film. “I am not an actor but I know that there are many people who have been made victims due to the provisions of this law. The film showcases how a man can be made a victim,” Sethi tells you.
So, as he lost his own identity of being Gurmit Singh SethiIJ “I’m just a transporter. How many people know Gurmit SinghIJ May be a handful. The question of losing my identity doesn’t arise,” Sethi tells you before walking away.