Indian opposition parties are attempting to delay the release of what is widely seen as a fawning biopic about Narendra Modi that is scheduled for release days before the start of national elections.
Critics of the film PM Narendra Modi, which has a publicity photo depicting the prime minister surrounded by children with the tagline “patriotism is my strength”, say it is disguised political advertising that breaches the country’s stringent campaigning laws.
“The purpose of the film is only political, to get extra mileage in the elections,” said Kapil Sibal, an official from the opposition Congress party, who met election officials on Monday to argue the film’s release should be delayed until after the six-week polls finish on 19 May. “This is no artistic venture,” he said.
At least three other parties have raised objections to the film, along with a group of 47 former bureaucrats, who wrote an open letter to election authorities calling for the release of the film to be stalled.
India’s election commission said on Monday it had written to the filmmakers asking them to explain why the movie should not be considered a political promotion.
The prime minister is played by Vivek Oberoi, a vocal Modi supporter. The film dramatises various stages in the Indian leader’s life, including his childhood as a railway tea seller, his time as a wandering “sage” in the Himalayas, and the years he spent as a fugitive during the 1975 crisis, when the country’s civil liberties were suspended.
It also depicts the period when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat state, in 2002, lamenting anti-Muslim riots that killed more than 1,000 people – violence that the Hindu nationalist leader was accused of not doing enough to stop.
India’s electoral rules demand that advertisements, including those on social media, be counted towards a party’s spending cap and receive preapproval from authorities. Television channels are required to give equal hearings to the campaign material of all major parties and electioneering must stop 48 hours before voting begins.
This week, the national carrier Air India withdrew boarding passes that featured government advertisements on the back, including pictures of Modi, for fear of breaching the tough campaign laws.
In a 2012 state election, officials covered up statues of elephants across Uttar Pradesh state because the pachyderm was the official symbol of the Bahujan Samaj party.
No such equal-time laws exist for Indian cinema, and this year has seen the release of a slew of films that critics say are overly favourable towards Modi and his policies. The Accidental Prime Minister, released in January, was a withering insider account of the previous leader Manmohan Singh’s government. Uri, released the same day, was a fiercely patriotic account of India’s purported strikes inside Pakistani-held territory in 2016.
In contrast to Hollywood, which is often aligned with more liberal values, India’s Bollywood has largely embraced Modi, with a few vocal exceptions. Young Bollywood stars flew to Delhi in January to meet the Indian premier and posted a widely shared group shot on social media.
