Accidental Prime Minister’s Director Vows To Never Make Another Political Film

 Not that Vijay Ratnakar Gutte is  daunted by the savage tone  of some  of  the  reviews. But the  first-time director has  vowed to never again make a political film.

“And  I mean never,ever,” Gutte asserts. “This has nothing to do with the  controversies  surrounding The Accidental Prime Minister. I  have no interest in making political films. I took up The Accidental Prime Minister as a challenge. And I think I succeeded  in  doing what I  had set out to do,” says  Vijay Gutte.

He  has shut the  negative reviews out of his  mind.  “I can see them. But I  decline their  validity in my life. There is so much positivity about the  film. In many centres the film has opened to far bigger audiences than expected.  I was told my film was for multiplex  audiences.I  don’t really understand  these  segregation. I am new to this  profession.I think  Rs.6.5 crores  on  the first day is  fairly impressive  for a film that does not feature any  superstar.”

Gutte is also new to the  backlash which his film has received  by some  critics. “I can understand criticism. But personal remarks in the guise  of criticism ,I don’t understand.The film is an adaptation  of  a book that hit the shelves six years ago. It  was an elaborate  account of Dr Manmohan Singh’s relationship with  his  press advisor.  There were separate chapters  in  the book, and  the story unfolds in a similar format on screen. It wasn’t easy to do. I couldn’t have done   this without Kher Sir.”

The debutante  director can’t stop singing his leading man’s praise.  “Kher Sir  has  largely played extroverted boisterous characters. Here as  Dr Manmohan Singh he had to be subdued, totally underplayed. Some people are sniggering about his stiff hand movements in the role. Let me inform them that we studied Dr Singh’s walk in several news clips and  he  actually walked the way he was shown in the film with his hands held stiffly in  front of him. I may be  a novice.  But would an  actor of Anupam  Kher’s experience  hamper and kill his performance with an  exaggerated physical trait?”

 Gutte says the walk isn’t the only true facet  of  Dr Manmohan Singh’s personality as seen in the film. “All that we’ve  shown is in  the public domain.  It is very well-known that Dr Singh was  treated  in a  particular way by the Congress high command. When that  is  shown in the film why is it a   matter of such outrage for  some?”