Reelpolitik

Political films—adaptations, hagiographies and dramatisation of election issues—seem to be the toast of the pre-poll season, but India is not the first or the only country to go down this road

- Divya J Shekhar

Vicky Kaushal might be hot, but he did a propaganda film and I don’t like him anymore,” was a tweet by Delhi based media consultant Tanzila Anis that snowballed into a Twitter-storm. While trolls hurled personal insults, others discussed whether a war film could be politically-motivated, if the movie industry has the moral responsibility to stay away from politics, and the difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘patriotism’.

“Uri glorifies a supposed military strike by the government and the timing of its release seems suspect,” Anis later told Forbes India. “It cannot be a coincidence that the The Accidental Prime Minister, which takes digs at the Opposition and is promoted by the BJP’s social media handle, is released on the same Friday.” She received over 270 replies on the tweet and had to mute comments to keep trolls away. “It is all geared at the 2019 elections. In my opinion, it is propaganda.”

Meanwhile, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap rushed to defend his contemporary Aditya Dhar’s film chronicling India’s supposed surgical strikes on Pakistan in 2016. “The jingoism spouted in Uri was far lesser than the jingoism I see in American movies or war movies from anywhere across the world. I think we watch everything from the coloured glasses of the time we live in and just don’t trust anyone’s intention,” he said in an unrelated series of tweets.

Long story short, these are just a few examples of how, ahead of the general elections in April May, people are seriously debating whether the sudden slew of political films and biopics are timed to win parties a few brownie points. Be it informed or speculative, serious or shallow, everyone seems to be talking, forming opinions, taking sides. There is constant chatter, especially on social media.

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