Is Bollywood becoming the official propaganda channel for political parties? Experts disagree

The Accidental Prime Minister poster

When a film is made about the political situation in our country, national leaders want to play hero. If they don't get to be the protagonist, then they try their best to make the Opposition look like the villain. Ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections this year, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be riding on this strategy to further their propaganda.

The BJP, which is the ruling party at the Centre, has been aggressively promoting two recently released Bollywood films – The Accidental Prime Minister and Uri on its Twitter account. Many MPs such as Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were also found backing the move.

Rathore said, “Can’t we extend our wishes for a film? Congress has been all for freedom, why is it questioning that freedom now?”

While Bollywood celebrities have always walked rallies and shown support for political parties, this role reversal is not going well with a lot of critics.

“Films like these are creators of myths. Political parties are trying to establish a new contradiction to facts. But neither a myth-making machine like this nor a propaganda agency can fool the audience. This is a democracy and the audience is no fool,” said Shiv Visvanathan, a science and society professor and commentator.

According to Vishvanathan, biopics have never worked too well in Bollywood and this one will be no exception. The tweet from the official handle of the BJP read “Riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years. Was Dr. Singh just a regent who was holding on to the PM’s chair till the time heir was ready?” The tweet was also padded up with the official trailer video of the film.

Social media experts have labelled this a deliberate ploy by the current regime to use these films as media to throw 'facts' that could lend them some credibility.

“The counter-argument might be that MP Shashi Tharoor also wrote a book called The Paradoxical Prime Minister, but books have limited reach, unlike films which are the most prominent form of mass media. Filmmakers should not let anybody else, other than themselves, use their film as a tool to tell a story,” said social media strategist Naresh Arora, director of Design Boxed, a company that helped the Congress devise its campaign in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

While Bollywood has long been doing films that may drive home a political agenda – be it Toilet Ek Prem Katha or Indu Sarkar – The Accidental Prime Minister is one of the few films where the filmmakers haven't shied away from naming the politicians the actors have played in the film.