Dinesh Kamath's column 'Anupam Kher falls in trouble owing to his film' that was published in Newsband

Anupam Kher falls in trouble owing to his film

By Dinesh Kamath

Anupam Kher gave an excellent portrayal of former Indian Prime Minister in the film Accidental Prime Minister. The court had on January 8 ordered police to lodge an FIR against Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna and 12 others on a complaint filed by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha with a plea that the movie presented Manmohan Singh and a number of other public figures in bad light. Muzaffarpur Police lodged an FIR against actors Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna and 12 others on a district court’s direction in connection with the movie ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. The FIR was lodged at the Kanti police station after the court took objection to non-compliance of its January 8 order in this regard.

Kher, Khanna and 12 others named in the FIR are associated with the movie ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ based on the tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.The complaint was filed by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha with a plea that the movie presented Manmohan Singh and a number of other public figures in bad light. Ojha said he had moved the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate Saba Alam on February 4 to mention that its order was not complied with by the police. On this, the court issued show-cause notice to Kanti police station through the Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police after which police lodged an FIR. Senior superintendent of police Manoj Kumar ordered the police station to comply with the court’s order.

Police lodged the FIR under IPC sections 295, 153, 153A, 293, 504, 506, 120B and 34 which relate to promoting enmity among different groups, sale of obscene objects, insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal conspiracy etc. In his complaint, Ojha named Kher (who plays the character of Manmohan Singh), as well as Akshaye Khanna, who plays the role of Singh’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru, on whose book the movie is said to be based upon.

Others named in the complaint include actors depicting the roles of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president (then national general secretary) Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his deputy Lal Krishna Advani and RJD leader Lalu Prasad. The producer, director and other key persons associated with the film were also named in the complaint. The complainant alleged that he felt hurt upon watching the promos of the movie, which was not released at that time, wherein the public figures were portrayed in a manner that projected a poor image of the country. The movie was released on January 11, 2019.

I will continue with Anupam Kher tomorrow.