Modi & Manmohan are no Bal Thackeray, says Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut on biopic race

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, the producer of the upcoming Bal Thackeray biopic, said the party founder’s life was rich in Bollywood-esque masala.

Mumbai: His biopic on late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is releasing weeks after one on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came out, and just as filming begins for a movie on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut says the party’s founder could not be compared in stature to either Modi or Singh.

“Becoming a Prime Minister, chief minister or president is temporary. You are a leader till you have the position. But Balasaheb Thackeray did not take any post of the government,” he added.

Raut is the producer of Thackeray, a biopic of the Shiv Sena founder set for release this Friday.

The film stars actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Thackeray, and Amrita Rao as his wife Meenatai.

It comes close on the heels of The Accidental Prime Minister, a controversial film on veteran Congress leader Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister that was based on a book by his former media adviser Sanjaya Baru.

A film on Modi, starring actor Vivek Oberoi in the title role, is also in the offing.

Speaking to ThePrint two days before the release of Thackeray, Raut said, “He (Thackeray) could have become the Prime Minister or the chief minister, but he did not. He used to always say that Shiv Sena chief is a post that people have given him. This was superior to him than anything else. Who will think like this?”

Thackeray, Raut said, should only be compared to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi in popularity.

Also read: BJP’s latest olive branch for Shiv Sena — Rs 100 cr memorial for Bal Thackeray

‘Thackeray biopic before elections not for political gain’

Raut insisted that the release of Thackeray was not timed with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, which are just months away, and that the Shiv Sena does not expect any electoral gains from the film.

“Those who have doubts should go to the Election Commission and ask them to push polls ahead…” he said.

“Balasaheb Thackeray never indulged in politics of this kind and even we will not. Our intention was that a good story about a great leader, an artist, should reach people. I don’t know what the gain or loss will be from this,” Raut added.

Raut, who had earlier produced a Marathi film on Thackeray’s life titled Balkadu, said Thackeray was a commercial film.

“Balasaheb’s life was one of sangharsh (struggle) and people also like watching biopics these days,” he added. “If you look at Balasaheb’s entire life, it is no less than a Hollywood or Bollywood film plot. All the masala required in a film is there in his life,” he said.

‘Opposition weak, government arrogant’

The Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and fellow constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has emerged as one the most strident critics of the Modi government.

Much of its criticism has been focused on demonetisation and the delay in Ram mandir construction, with the Shiv Sena penning scathing editorials in mouthpiece Saamana to flay the government.

Raut, who also serves as the editor of Saamana, said a weak opposition had fuelled the arrogance of the Modi government.

“In a democracy, when the opposition is weak, the rulers start thinking of themselves as ‘desh ke malik (owners of the country)’,” Raut added. “They have finished the CBI, the RBI, the judiciary.”

He, however, said Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics will brighten the Congress’ prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, adding that there will be more developments to further muddle the political climate in the run-up to the polls.

Also read: We haven’t forgotten Hindutva, Nawazuddin best choice to play Bal Thackeray: Sanjay Raut

‘A hung Parliament’

According to Raut, the 2019 Lok Sabha election will most likely result in a hung Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha member said, given the current political climate, the BJP will not get the same mandate it got in 2014, when it won 282 of the Lok Sabha’s 543 elected seats.

He added that the Shiv Sena was not in talks with the BJP for an alliance as of now. “If the BJP wants an alliance, why did they break ties in 2014 in the first place?” he said.

While the two parties had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election as allies, the alliance had come undone ahead of the assembly elections later the same year. The Shiv Sena and the BJP had, however, buried the hatchet to form the government after the assembly elections threw up a fractured mandate.

Raut said a hung Lok Sabha will throw open the prime minister’s post to more contenders. “There are at least four in the BJP itself,” he added. “We are not taking any names. These names are coming from the BJP, from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,” he said.

“If the BJP is short of a hundred seats or so, a new name for prime ministership may come up. But the government will be a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the prime minister will be an NDA prime minister.”

The leader added that the NDA was not the BJP’s alone and was made of several parties who came together to form an anti-Congress front.

“Whether the BJP stays or not, the NDA will stay,” he said. “We don’t want a Congress government. We have an ideology. Leaders like Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal-United) have come and gone ten times, but Shiv Sena and Akali Dal have always been loyal.”