The run-up to the 2019 elections has been entertaining to say the least. Political ‘biopics’ of all sorts have loomed large on the cinematic firmament recently – from the Accidental Prime Minister to Thackeray. They have also threatened to bludgeon us with two films about PM Narendra Modi in the near future. We hear some very justified charges of propaganda being made. Meanwhile, we have been accosted with My Name is RaGa. The trailer promises a film so awful that one has to ask – who in the world made this film?
Firstly, at 4 minutes long, that is no trailer. The trailer meanders through what appears to be an attempt to tell the untold back story of a (presumably) misunderstood politician. The film threatens to release in April 2019.
We recognise Indira Gandhi, a strangely beak-nosed Rajiv, someone who must be Sonia and now familiarly awkward Dr Manmohan Singh. There are others who may or may not be Priyanka Gandhi and a girlfriend or associate of some sort. They’ve tried hard to convey that this was a lovely sensitive little boy who had a difficult life.
The director of the film Rupesh Paul has the dubious distinction of having made films that no one has heard of; namely Kamasutra 3D (2015), Saint Dracula 3D (2012), My Mother's Laptop (2008), The Temptation Between My Legs (2008) and others.
Now I am someone who feels that all the Rahul Gandhi jokes are unnecessarily vicious and really not funny. And I found myself cringing throughout the 4-minute trailer. This Twitter user actually thinks it is so bad, it could actually garner sympathy for Rahul Gandhi. I think this may be true.
The trailer claims to offer us the inside track of the life of a man much in the public eye, but still a mystery to most. Whether it does so seriously or as parody is a valid question.
In a statement issued by Rupesh Paul about the film he was reported as having said this in the press release: “The movie has no intentions to glorify Rahul or to demystify him. It’s the story of a coming back of a human being who had been ridiculously attacked. Anyone who has fearlessly confronted defeat and failure can relate to this story. In that sense, I don’t want to call this a biopic, it’s a story of any man who becomes unstoppable after he wins over a catastrophic life.”
Supporters of Rahul Gandhi and/or the Congress feel that the movie promises to be a sympathetic portrayal of someone who has been needlessly maligned.
Is this tweet sarcasm? Also when Paul says this is a film about the resurgence of someone who has been ‘ridiculously attacked’ is he being sarcastic? A film such as this one promises to be, certainly does no favours to the Congress president; with its laughably bad performances and poor production values.
Paul claims to be inspired by Gandhi and had wanted to make the film two years ago, but investors weren’t interested. The change in Congress fortunes in the recent state elections seemed to trigger a change, however. Paul revealed that the investors are not from the Congress but from other parties including the BJP who did not wish to be named. The plot thickens; gets rather lumpy in fact.
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