Will not back off from 'Accidental Prime Minister', my life's best work: Kher

Calling "The Accidental Prime Minister" his "life's best performance", actor Anupam Kher on Friday said he will not back off from the snowballing controversy over the film on former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

The actor, who plays the title role in the movie, also took a swipe at Maharashtra Youth Congress' threat to stop the release unless it is first shown to them, saying they should be happy a film has been made on their leader.

"I am not going to back off. This is my life's best performance. #DrManmohanSingh will agree after seeing the film that it is a 100% accurate depiction," Kher tweeted.

The trailer of the film, based on the book of the same name by Sanjay Baru who served as Singh's media advisor 2004 to 2008, was released here on Thursday.

It depicts Singh as a victim of Congress' internal politics ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The trailer drew sharp reactions from the Congress, which dubbed it a "propaganda film". The party's Maharashtra youth wing wrote a letter to the producers of the films to demand a special screening.

"They should be happy that a film has been made on their leader. They should bring the crowd to watch the film as it has dialogues such as 'Will I sell my country?' which shows how great Manmohan Singh ji is," Kher told television channels.

"The more they protest, the more publicity they will give to the film. The book has been out since 2014, no protests were held since then, so the film is based on that," he said.

Kher also referred to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's recent statement that freedom of expression is a fundamental right. This was in response to a party leader objecting to the language used to describe his father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, in the Netflix series "Sacred Games".

"I had read Rahul Gandhi ji's tweet where he spoke about freedom of expression. So I think he should scold these people and tell them they are doing wrong."
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also tweeted on the film, saying, "Can't wait for when they make The Insensitive Prime Minister. So much worse than being the accidental one."