Anand Pandit Motion Pictures and Legend Global Studios’ PM Narendra Modi is a biopic on prime minister Narendra Modi.
The film starts from Narendra Modi’s childhood when he used to sell tea with his father, and his love for the country even then. It then traces his entry into active politics, his rise as a dependable party worker for the general public, and then his election as the chief minister of Gujarat after crossing a number of hurdles.
During his chief ministership, Narendra Modi had to deal with the Godhra carnage to investigate which a Special Investigation Team was constituted. Even while the SIT verdict was awaited, Modi’s popularity reached such heights that he was tipped to be a prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general elections. But even that was beset with problems. A businessman (Prashant Narayanan), whom Modi had gone after, due to his illegal activities in Gujarat, was particularly anti-Modi. A television reporter (Darshan Kumar) also left no stone unturned to malign Modi but to no avail.
The story is the real-life story of Narendra Modi and borrows incidents from his life. The screenplay is written by Anirudh Chawla and Vivek Anand Oberoi. The drama in the first half is quite boring as it moves at a leisurely pace and appears too stretched. This half is devoted to his childhood, youth, his entry into politics and his growth as leader of the masses. Although it has some patriotic moments, the patriotic flavour does not manifest itself fully. The second half is better and also more fast-paced and more dramatic. It also has more scenes which inspire patriotism. The scene in which a group of Muslims attend the Hindu puja kept by Narendra Modi after the communal riots in Akshardham, and where the Hindus and Muslims hold each other’s hands to show solidarity is the best scene in the film. Narendra Modi’s television interview is also a well-written scene. The climax seems hurried and although it gives a sense of high to the viewers, it also leaves them asking for more.
Dialogues, penned by Harsh Limbachiyaa, Anirudh Chawla and Vivek Anand Oberoi, are excellent at a number of places. Some of them are even clapworthy.
Vivek Oberoi acts well, especially in the post-interval portion. Of course, his performance is not of the kind which makes him appear exactly like Narendra Modi and that’s a minus point because he plays the character. Suresh Oberoi performs well in the role of the babawho guides young Narendra Modi in selecting his future path. Rajendra Gupta is good as Narendra Modi’s father. Zarina Wahab leaves a lovely mark as Narendra Modi’s mother. Darshan Kumar is effective as the anti-Modi TV journalist. Prashant Narayanan is natural as the businessman. Manoj Joshi deserves special mention for playing Amit Shah. His appearance and gait etc. resemble those of the real-life politician. Boman Irani shines in a brief role as Ratan Tata. Yatin Karyekar, Anjan Shrivastava, Kishori Shahane Vij, Sheila Gore and Sanjay Goradia lend lovely support. Others are adequate.
Omung Kumar B.’s direction is fair. He seems to be lost in the pre-interval portion but gets a grip in the second half. His handling of several scenes could’ve been much better. Music (Shashi & Khushi, Hitesh Modak) is so-so. Lyrics (Javed Akhtar, Prasoon Joshi, Sameer, Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay, Sardaraa, Parry and Luvraj) are not easy on the lips. Hitesh Modak’s background music is quite good. Sunita Radia’s cinematography is of a fine standard. Manohar Verma’s action and stunt scenes are quite thrilling. Vinod Kumar’s production designing, and Mohd. Arif Shaikh and Sharad Narayan Rathod’s art direction are appropriate. Sanjay Sankla’s editing could have been crisper.
On the whole, PM Narendra Modi is an average fare with a fairly nice second half but a poor first half. Having said that, it must be added that the film is too propagandist in nature to really do magic at the box-office. Narendra Modi’s victory in the 2019 elections will help the film’s performance at the turnstiles to an extent.
Released on 24-5-’19 at Inox (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios. Publicity: so-so. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull at places and ordinary at others.