Alas that’s not enough to keep you engaged in this nearly-two-hour film whose agenda and very reason to exist is transparent from the word go.

The film is an out-an-out propaganda film, created for the specific purpose of making the former prime minister look like a weak, spineless man, a puppet whose strings were controlled by The Family.

All is unsubtle, everyone’s a lookalike in this film and yet manage to outperform the man in the lead — Anupam Kher who stars as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The film is so incompetently crafted, terribly performed and transparently petty that it isn’t even pathetic enough to be panned as a “propaganda” movie

Unfortunately, despite all the good intent, The Accidental Prime Minister, quite like its protagonist, fails to deliver on the promise.

The motive of this tacky, third-rate propaganda piece is all too apparent in the story it wants us to go home with.

Anupam Kher must be commended for putting in a lot of hard work, but his portrayal simply doesn’t work

Vijay Ratnakar Gutte’s The Accidental Prime Minister is so unsubtle in its disdain for the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress, that it could almost pass off as a creation of the social media cell of the ruling party.

All said and done, this political-drama neither has much politics nor has an authoritative drama. What it has is a couple of very good performances but they aren’t enough to make you stick your seats even for a very crisp duration. From what, as a dumb-headed politic follower, I feel this was a homage to an individual leading to demean a party. If you guys see the film, please let me know if I’ve got this right.

…rests on a great premise but the faulty and flawed screenplay and direction ruin the show. At the box office, the controversy surrounding the film might help it initially but the film is bound to crash.

I came away with Akshaye Khanna’s smug smile and his jaunty walk. He is conspiratorial throughout, occasionally pensive and seemingly having the last laugh in an inelegant adaptation.

The film is shabbily made even though they get lots of cast to look like people in real life, and skims the events in Dr, Singh’s work life. Is this a propaganda film?

The Accidental Prime Minister is a different film and one must laud the courage to pick up something so controversial. However, it needed better execution to make a real impact. It is a definite one time watch with its breezy narrative, superb casting and of course Akshaye Khanna who shines like a diamond. Does it redeem the image of Dr Manmohan Singh? Not as well as it was expected to…

The Accidental Prime Minister, at its core, stages itself as a relationship of two men beset by palace politics in the world’s largest democracy. If you are moved by this fictionalised version of Dr Manmohan Singh and Sanjaya Baru then you’d have had a good time watching this piece. If not, que sera sera.

Anupam Kher’s Act Is Sincere But The Film Fails To Speak Loud!

Frustrated with the interference from the Gandhis and the apparent unwillingness of Manmohan Singh to set the record straight, Baru resigns and writes his memoir, The Accidental Prime Minister (accidental as Singh never contested an election but was a Rajya Sabha member). Sales are sluggish, until the PMO denounces the book: at which point, it becomes a bestseller. Gutte should hope his film meets with the same good fortune.