Movie on Manmohan Singh to have Italian actress for Sonia Gandhi, Hollywood actor for Rahul

MUMBAI: An Indo-Irish actor who’s a British citizen and has acted in Hollywood films will play Rahul Gandhi while an Italian actress is likely to play Sonia Gandhi — they are part of the star cast for the movie version of Sanjaya Baru’s book on Manmohan Singh, 'The Accidental Prime Minister'.

The movie, with a cast of 128, is slated for a December 21, 2018 release, a few months before the early-middle 2019 general elections.

Baru, who was Singh’s media adviser for a part of the latter’s 10 years as the PM, will be portrayed by an Indian actor. Indian film actors will play former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former president APJ Abdul Kalam and Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary. But the filmmakers refused to share the identities of any of these actors, foreign or Indian.

ET had reported on June 6 that Anupam Kher will essay Manmohan Singh’s role. Filming starts in two months and studio shooting will happen mostly in London. Filmmakers said shooting outside India will mean “disruptions” won’t hurt the schedule.

“The script has been finalised and will throw up quite a few surprises for the viewers,” said the film’s producer Sunil Bohra. The release of Baru’s book, which was critical of Singh’s first term as PM, had coincided with the run-up to the 2014 general election.

Bohra, however, said there is nothing political about the timing of the film’s planned release. “It will be both wrong and unfair to even suggest that there is any agenda, let alone a political one, in making of this movie,” he said.

“The nature of the contract is such that I have to release the movie by December next year.”