Before Narendra Modi’s Biopic, Here Is How Movies Based On Indian Prime Ministers Fared At The Box Office!

We are all aware of the fact that cinema is a reflection of society. What we see on the big screens is not very different from how society functions. While some just pose a question on the current situation, some try to help us escape reality. Then there are others that try to show the lives of those people on-screen who have changed or affected the society significantly.

Interestingly, there are not many films that have been made on the lives of our Prime Ministers. Maybe it is the series of controversies that such a film can generate that deters the filmmakers, but there are only a handful of films that tried to show the life of those on whose hands the future of the nation rested.

With PM Narendra Modi on the pipeline, let us have a look at how films based on the lives of Indian Prime Ministers fared on the Box-Office:

Nehru

Nehru was a documentary that was released in 1983. Directed by Shyam Benegal, the film is a first-person biography relying for its text entirely on Nehru's writings and speeches. The film traces the evolution of Nehru from his birth through his life in three parts- The Awakening, The struggle and Freedom. The film had to be released by the Film Division and there is no available data of its box office collection!

Aandhi

There have been a number of films that have been made on the Emergency, that was imposed by Indira Gandhi, or on the assassination that sparked outrage against Sikhs in India. But there are very few films that actually focused on the life of India’s first woman Prime Minister. Aandhi, directed by Gulzar and starring Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar, is said to be loosely based on the life of Indira Gandhi. The controversies surrounding the film did give it a boost; however, it wasn’t a box-office success.

The Accidental Prime Minister

The Accidental Prime Minister, more than being a biopic on PM Manmohan Singh, was based on the controversial book by Sanjay Baru. The release of the film was shrouded in controversies, but post release, it did not get a good response and was a flop at the box-office.

There are two films on the pipeline that will focus on the lives of two Prime Ministers. While PM Narendra Modi was to release on 11th April, but was postponed by the election commission to release after the Lok Sabha Elections, Vivek Agnihotri’s Tashkent Files, that is based on the mysterious death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, will release on 12th April.