Bhubaneswar: At a time when welfare schemes and sops are being announced thick and fast, political biopics of major leaders have also apparently become a major tool for national and regional political parties to influence voters.
A few weeks back, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, the movie based on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's biography written by Sanjay Baru, was released. Baru had served as Singh’s media advisor from 2004 to 2008. Following the release of the movie, many politicians and film experts raised questions on the timing of the release of the movie.
Meanwhile on Friday, a four-minute teaser of ‘My Name Is Raga’ claiming to be based on the story of Congress party president Rahul Gandhi was released. The movie has been directed by Rupesh Paul and will reportedly hit theatres soon.
Likewise, Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi is set to portray Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an upcoming biopic directed by Omung Kumar.
Ahead of the general elections, Odisha too, is not far behind this trend. Movie ‘Nimki’, with the tag line Nimpur Ru Naveen Niwas (From Nimpur to Naveen Niwas), was released in the State on January 23. The movie highlighted the various schemes of the BJD-led State government in the State. Similarly, another movie 'Biju Babu' is likely to hit screens in the first week of April.
“If such films are made it is not bad but the success of the movie will depend on the content and how it is made,” said BJP leader, Anu Choudhury.
Commenting on the trend, BJD spokesperson Prasanta Nanda said, “Those films will definitely have impact but won’t affect the voters.”
“The movies will not affect the voting pattern but will have some effect,” said Congress spokesperson Bibhu Prasad Tarai.