The bombastic and urgent title sequence opening The Accidental Prime Minister is a contradiction to the man whose story it represents: Manmohan Singh — India’s squeaky-voiced former Prime Minister whose ascension to the seat was considered a political power-play.
Like Singh, the film is neither exigent nor grandiloquent — but that doesn’t mean its execution is dull. Adapted from Sanjaya Baru’s book of the same name, The Accidental Prime Minister sees Singh from Baru’s perspective, who was for a time his chief media advisor and (if we believe the film) his prime strategist against Sonya and Rahul Gandhi (Suzanne Bernert, Arjun Mathur) — the First Family of India, who had allegedly installed Singh as a puppet Prime Minister.
Contrary to the screenplay, Baru considers Singh to be a genius and the screenplay quickly moves through pivotal highlights of his tenure as India’s PM. We, of course, don’t buy Singh’s genius one bit.
Anupam Kher’s caricature of Singh is partly to blame for the disconnect. Kher, a fine actor once-upon-a-time, lampoons Singh’s un-authoritarian voice and body language to laughable extents. Singh’s wrists seem to be disconnected from his shoulders, his walk, deliberate and conscious at the same time; whenever Singh looks at someone, his mind appears to be blank, as if he’s wondering where he is, or even why he’s here.
On the other hand, Akshay Khanna plays Baru with suave, devilish, swagger. A former journalist and editor, Baru often breaks the fourth wall to talk to the audience, as if confiding his point of view with us, his fellow outsiders.
More importantly, unlike Singh, he seems to having fun, as he flicks off both petty politics and big party decisions with equal irreverence — purportedly, for Singh’s sake.
Debuting director Vijay Ratnakar Gutte is keen to tell a linear story of politics and betrayal without unnecessary drama. Almost all of the action takes place during dialogues in lush government offices.
Although not as axiomatic or kinetic as Aaron Sorkin’s works (The West Wing, The Newsroom, A Few Good Men), The Accidental Prime Minister is a swell, if one-sided story of a Prime Minister who was apparently simply in office for convenience’s sake.
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