Product placements in Bollywood films exploded at the turn of the century. Subhash Ghai’s Taal (1999), prominently featuring Coca-Cola, led the way. More films followed – Yaadein (2001), also by Ghai, promoted the same soft drink throughout its runtime.
Soon, popular companies, selling washing powder, toothpaste, cars, bikes, chewing gum, television, anti-septic cream, engine oil, watches – it’s a long list, Bollywood filmmakers did mean business — began appearing on cinema screens.
Some plugs were more inventive than others. A song in Half Girlfriend (2017), for instance, promoted four brands – Lyra, Close-up, Hero, MakeMyTrip – three of them in one shot.
That long list of products, in recent years, has seen a new addition: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bollywood’s deference for Modi has never been more obvious. It began early in the year, when Modi met the Bollywood bigwigs (Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, Ekta Kapoor, among notable others) to discuss how movies could contribute to “nation building”.
A day later, Uri: The Surgical Strike hit the theatres, where Rajit Kapur played Modi, a role approving, and deferential, of the man. On the same day, The Accidental Prime Minister released, a drama critical of Sonia Gandhi and the Congress – whose trailer was shared by the Bhartiya Janta Party’s account on Twitter.
Films centred on prominent politicians aren’t uncommon – this year’s Best Picture nominee at the Academy Awards, Vice, examined the life of America’s former Vice President, Dick Cheney – but the recent avalanche of Modi-related films and web series are remarkable for two reasons: a) they’re hagiographic accounts, functioning as free PR; b) they’re releasing close to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, raising concerns over the Election Commission’s model code of conduct.
Also read: Does the Release of ‘PM Narendra Modi’ Violate Model Code of Conduct?
Bollywood’s Modi-love is both explicit (through biopics or characters) and implicit (referencing him or his policies, often abruptly, in dialogues).
India goes to election in about two weeks. The following list is a reminder of the times Bollywood, along with regional films, campaigned for the Indian prime minister:
Vivek Oberoi’s last Hindi film as a solo lead, Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story, released more than half-a-decade ago. He soon transitioned to south Indian films, playing a supporting role or a villain. His latest project in that case, PM Narendra Modi, co-produced by his father (a BJP member since 2004), looks like an attempt to gain political patronage and salvage a fading career.
The biopic’s trailer plays out like a hagiography for dummies, listing the virtues of its protagonist – rebellious, humanitarian, unrelenting – like an enthusiastic resume. Oberoi has been a long-standing Modi supporter; he campaigned for him in the 2014 elections and, later, attended his swearing-in ceremony.
The biopic looks so alarmingly reverential that, on a complaint filed by the Congress, the Election Commission issued a show cause notice to the producers. The film, slated to come out on April 5 (a week before the polls), may release after the elections – the verdict on that is yet to be announced.
Oberoi isn’t unfamiliar with product placements. But the last time he sold something this desperately was 2008, in Mission Istanbul: when Zayed Khan looks hesitant to fight some goons, Oberoi, holding a can of Mountain Dew, says, “Kyun, darr lag raha hai? Darr ke aage jeet hai”. The Modi biopic looks just as subtle.
2. Modi — A Journey of a Common Man
The S-6 bogie of a train is lit on fire. “The oppressors don’t have a religion,” Modi (Ashish Sharma) says in the background. “At least don’t divide the dead among the Hindus and Muslims.”
The web series Modi, slated to stream on Eros Now next month, amps up the reverence. Like the Oberoi movie, Modi’s Modi is a litany of virtues: a people’s man who venerates democracy, independence, and nation – someone who rose from humble origins (there’s a customary scene of Modi selling tea at a railway platform); opposed a draconian regime (shots of Emergency, Indira Gandhi, Modi going to jail); became an existential wanderer; and, most importantly, threatened to destroy Pakistan.
There’s simply nothing that Modi can’t do, as this trailer exemplifies, and if a feature film struggles to accommodate his greatness then, well, there’s always a ten-part series.
3. Namo Saune Gamo and Hu Narender Modi Banva Mangu Chu
Much before PM Narendra Modi, there was Namo Saune Gamo, a Gujarati movie on Modi that had released during the 2014 election. The film ran for one show, in theatres across Gujarat and one in Mumbai, before the Election Commission pulled it down.
The makers denied any similarity to Modi – even though the film’s title and the protagonist’s resemblance to the politician left nothing to speculate – and they quite curiously waited five years to release their film.
The movie was supposed to release this year in March, avoiding the model code of conduct hassle, but that didn’t happen. Another Gujarati film, Hu Narender Modi Banva Mangu Chu, managed a release though. Centred on a teenager who idolises the prime minister, it was a softer, relatively innocent, version of propaganda.
Another election, another Modi film. Initially titled Modi Ka Gaon, the movie was scheduled to release on December 8, 2017, a day before the Gujarat Legislative elections. But the censor board – then under Pahlaj Nihalani, who called himself a “Modi bhakt”, asking filmmakers to mute “Mann Ki Baat” and Hanuman Chalisa in their films – denied it certification in February.
It finally released on December 27, 2017, after obtaining a no objection certificate from the Prime Minister, appealing to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, and muting all mentions of “Uri”.
Directed by the BJP member Suresh Jha, Modi Kaka Ka Gaon highlights the Prime Minister’s key projects – such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, demonetisation, Digital India (along with the surgical strike) – that, the filmmaker hoped, helped spread the message that, “Modiji’s thoughts and vision for India are very straightforward and clear – that the country should get what it deserves and the Indian public should not be wronged.”
5. Numerous unrelated references: “Khaata hoon inki, sunta hun sirf Modiji ki,” says Junaid Ansari (Varun Dhawan), an Indian cop in the UAE, in Dishoom. The John Abraham-Dhawan starrer was a regular masala fare, not even remotely political, and yet its reverence for Modi, devoid of context, signalled a new mood in the industry. (The film’s title song had lines such as, “Mere India ko bura kaha toh dishoom/Jana Gana pe na khada hua toh dishoom.”)
Then, less than a year later, Arjun Kapoor, in Half Girlfriend, mentioned the prime minister and his “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” initiative in the film’s climax. A few months later, Toilet (2017), which opened by thanking the Swachh Bharat Mission, had a scene where Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister says, “If our PM can do note-bandi [demonetise notes] for the benefit of the country, can we not shut toilets?”
In fact, there was an entire movie on demonetisation, Commando 2, whose advertorial (published in the Mumbai Mirror) began with a stunning declaration: “It’s gospel truth that Narendra Modi is the best prime minister of the country.”
6. Unreleased and upcoming films: Some directors didn’t even bother making a film, just a trailer was enough.
Two days before the release of An Insignificant Man, a documentary charting the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party, the trailer of “A Significant Man” came online.
Purportedly a documentary on the Prime Minister, the film’s trailer had the BJP and opposition politicians commenting on Modi. There was no intention of making the film, as the filmmaker said, instead it was a “social experiment of sorts”.
The same filmmaker released the trailer of “The Intentional Prime Minister” two days after The Accidental Prime Minister hit the theatres. Once again, there was no movie.
Similarly, in January 2014 (again, a few months before the Lok Sabha elections), a “4-D film” on Modi, Namo, was in the making. (Guess who was announced to play Modi? Oberoi.) A short trailer was released, too, but the film never materialised. (The same director, Rupesh Patel, who has a reputation for releasing trailers but not movies, was in news recently for helming a biopic on Rahul Gandhi, My Name is RaGa).
But some unreleased projects on Modi are hotly anticipated, too. Paresh Rawal plays him in (yet another) biopic, which, according to the actor, would be the “most challenging role of his career”.
Another biopic, which “captures the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, was recently in news for recreating the 2002 Godhra train burning. The trailers of these films haven’t surfaced yet, so it’s difficult to gauge their hagiographic-tilt, but enough examples from the past indicate reasons to be wary.
Indian filmmakers have declared their intent: Modi for them is less of a politician, more of a buffet, and they all want a piece of him.