Actor Akshaye Khanna and director Vijay Ratnakar Gutte discuss how the film, The Accidental Prime Minister, depicts the relationship between two individuals, which was much more than just a professional one. By Chahak Mittal
Projecting politics in a film that includes contemporary real-life characters can become a minefield, especially when a series of political events are shaping the country. Not surprisingly, controversies gathered up thick and fast around Vijay Ratnakar Gutte’s debut directorial film, The Accidental Prime Minister: Dr Manmohan Singh, based on eponymously-named book helmed by Sanjaya Baru. Starring Anupam Kher and Akshaye Khanna, the film has been caught in a swirl as the 2019 general elections loom on the horizon.
However, Akshaye never expected any such controversies around the film’s subject. “No not at all. We definitely thought that since this is the first time that real names of personalities are being used in a film without changing them, it might cause a little stir. This hasn’t happened before so different people might react very differently. But we did not expect it to such an extent,” he says.
He adds that what people call a “controversy” is actually a debate, and that “debates should always go on in a democracy like ours.”
Gutte says that he didn’t expect any such altercation because the film has been based on a book that was written four years ago and that “people already know what it says. It’s there before the people. If at that time, there were no such issues, then why now?”
As Akshaye portrays the role of Sanjaya Baru, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s media advisor, how did he get under the skin of the character?
The actor believes that he didn’t have to “learn” or “understand” him as a person because the director didn’t want him “to look like him, talk or walk or even dress like him. He wanted to create his own character.” He says, “Vijay believed that Baru’s was the only character in the film which he could have played around because he is nowhere close to Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. The other characters needed to be portrayed in the same way that they are.”
He says that he didn’t have to copy or mimic Baru to get into the character or even try and behave like him. “I just played it the way my director and I wanted it to. But indeed, whatever one learns about him after reading the book and meeting him in person, I would say that he has been a wonderful and an inspiring person.”
He talks about how Baru’s father had previously written for P V Narasimha Rao, whom Manmohan Singh considered a guru. And similarly, he says, “Baru considered Dr Singh his guru.”
Akshaye is amused at how he learnt about the “unique” relationship that Singh and Baru shared. “They have known each other for a very long time. Singh trusted Baru a lot. I learnt that when he became the PM, Baru was the only person whom he had called.”
Calling it a love affair, he says that this is what the film is about. “It’s about the friendship between these two people. He always protected the PM and his image, whether domestically or internationally. His job was to project the PM’s image in India and he did it with great passion, efficiency and effectiveness. One can see the stark difference between the time he was working with him in the office and the time after he left.”
So how were his personal political views affected or changed by playing such a role? Akshaye believes that having such a close encounter into the recent political history gives one a sense of how it all works. “I realised that politics, at the end of the day, is also the survival of the fittest. It is like if you’re not good at your job you won’t be allowed to continue it. You’ll not be able to move up in life. Politics is no less. It is also the same. It’s a game of survival. They do whatever it takes to survive in such a background. This film shows people playing politics in the background, and a relationship between two people in the forefront. But it’s beautiful,” says the Dil Chahta Hai actor.
For an actor, who is known for his challenging and determined roles and acting, was it a struggle to do this role?
The actor believes that he doesn’t have to worry when it comes to acting. He says, “I don’t intellectualise acting. It is something that comes very naturally to me. I just enjoy doing my work.”
He adds, “I have been acting for a very long time now and it’s not something I struggle with. Also, if there is a person behind the camera who is able to sense it and guide me properly, and bring the best out of me, which I had most definitely seen in Vijay Gutte, life becomes very easy. When you click with the director and have a creative chemistry with him/her, it shows in your performance too.”
He adds that if there is a person behind who is guiding you every now and then, holding your hand and feeding you, “stupid to say, but it’s a fact that quality of your performance will be enhanced a lot. Vijay was that to me.”
While talking about how YouTube struck down the trailer that was trending on number 1 after its initial release, he says, “I am not a technical person to comment on that, but even before it was struck down, the views and comments on the trailer itself had said enough. However, I just want to say that it’s a unique world which our audience hasn’t seen before. It has nothing to do with Indian politics. I don’t know why they are making it an issue? It’s just a beautiful story.”
When Vijay began shooting for the film, he says he felt that he was just doing it as a film or a project. “I never saw it as a political film. For me, it was a project to work on and bring out the best of the book into a film that Sanjaya Baru wrote. It never made me feel like I am giving politics a new face or trying to shape people’s opinions through it. In fact, even the public should see it as just a story and a drama, a relationship (both professional and personal) between two people and not something as a political history.”
He adds, “I feel that people really need to first watch the film and then make a comment on it. Rather than just judging it through the trailer.”
(The film releases on January 11.)
Photo: Pankaj Kumar