SC moved against ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’

New Delhi :  The Supreme Court was moved on Wednesday challenging the Delhi High Court order dismissing a PIL seeking a ban on YouTube showing the trailer of the movie ‘The Accidental Prime Minister,’ portraying former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

The High Court dismissed the plea today. The petitioner had also challenged granting certification to the film.

The film is based on a book with the same title written by Sanjaya Baru, former Prime Minister Singh’s media advisor. Baru’s book was published on April 20, 2014.




The petition has contended that the trailer on YouTube is misleading and was
factually incorrect as there are various inputs not based on the book.

Describing the trailer as “misleading,” petitioner Pooja Mahajan, a fashion designer, says she has “discovered that wrong propaganda was being carried at the behest of some political party.

Mahajan contends the trailer of the film is “gives an impression that there were confrontations within the government and with the party on the issue of election, nuclear deal, Kashmir, relations with the party and other matters”.

Anupam Kher plays the role of Manmohan Singh, Suzanne Bernert that of Sonia Gandhi and Arjun Mathur of Rahul Gandhi. Abdul Quadir Amin has acted as Ajay Singh with the role of Sanjaya Baru being played by Akshay Khanna.




The petitioner has contender that on June 8, 2017 then Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had told the makers of the film that they needed to have a ‘no objection certificate’ from former Prime Minister Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi before releasing the film.

The petitioner claims as a “known fact” that the film producers have not taken any consent/permission from Dr Singh, Mrs Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi “to perform their characters or perform their political life or to dress up in the same way as they had been doing in their normal life or copy their voice in any manner.”

The Delhi High Court bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V. Kameswar Rao on Wednesday rejected Mahajan’s PIL.

Published on: Jan 9, 2019 at 19:44 IST

IANS