New Delhi: Unni Mukundan is set to play PM Narendra Modi in the upcoming film Maa Vande. Mukundan, who shot into the limelight with the Malayalam action thriller Marco, shared the film’s poster on his Instagram account on the occasion of the prime minister’s 75th birthday.
The film is set to explore Modi’s bond with his mother, Heeraben. The poster shows the prime minister’s character holding a pen in his hand, with only the lower half of his face in the frame. The Parliament building can be seen in the backdrop.
The poster also features a quote by the prime minister: “A mother’s courage is stronger than many battles.”
“I’m humbled to share that I will be portraying the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi ji, in the upcoming film Maa Vande,” wrote Mukundan in the caption, tagging director Kranthi Kumar.
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‘First knew him as my CM’
Mukundan is a producer and director whose breakthrough in acting came with Mallu Singh (2012). In 2022, he won the National Award as a director for his debut film Meppadiyan.
Mukundan’s childhood was spent in Ahmedabad. In the emotional note on Instagram, he mentioned that he first knew Modi as his chief minister. He also shared his first meeting with the BJP leader in 2023.
“In Gujarati, he said: ‘Jhookvanu Nahi’, which means ‘Never Bow Down.’ Those words have been a source of strength and resolve for me ever since,” wrote Mukundan.
Maa Vande is not the first biopic of an Indian prime minister. In 2019, Omung Kumar’s film, PM Narendra Modi, featured Vivek Oberoi in the lead role. In the same year, Vijay Ratnakar’s The Accidental Prime Minister, on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was also released. Main Atal Hoon, based on the life of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was directed by Ravi Jadhav. It had Pankaj Tripathi playing Vajpayee, and the film released in 2204.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)