It’s raining biopics since the start of 2019. With films based on important events and people in Indian history releasing in the theatres, 2019 can be unofficially declared the year of the biopics.
Be it the controversial ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, or the eponymous take on Balasaheb Thackeray titled ‘Thackeray’, or even the savage take on Rani Lakshmibai titled ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’, or even upcoming biopics on Nambi Narayanan and PM Modi, the filmmakers are now daring to take a risk and deliver authentic, unapologetic portrayals of people as they’ve been.
However, some people haven’t got the message clear, and they still believe in making films that suit their ideology and approach to life. One such person is filmmaker Rupesh Paul, who of all people, has decided to portray the life of controversial Congress President Rahul Gandhi on screen.
Yes, let this sink in. The laughing stock of the entire nation now has his own biopic up for release. Titled ‘My Name is RaGa’, this movie is based on the life of Rahul Gandhi and is expected to release in the month of April.
In an interview to news agency IANS, the director has apparently clarified that this is not a glorification attempt on Rahul Gandhi. To quote him, “It’s the story of a person who had been ridiculously attacked. Anyone who has fearlessly confronted defeat and failure can relate to this story. In that sense, I don’t want to call this a biopic. It is story of an individual who becomes unstoppable after a victory over a catastrophic life.”
However, going by the teaser, it doesn’t seem so. The movie is a rather caricaturish, even amateurish glorification of the Congress President, who has only the surname of an autocratic dynasty to his credit as an achievement.
However, given that people as repulsive as Dawood Ibrahim, Haseena Parkar, Abdul Latif, Sanjay Dutt etc. have been glorified ad nauseam, it isn’t surprising that Rupesh Paul found enough confidence to make a biopic on a man, who has hardly contributed to the nation at all. It would be interesting to see how many people actually turn up to see this cringe-fest if at all someone is courageous enough to do this.