Fresh PIL against The Accidental Prime Minister, hearing expected on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: Upcoming release The Accidental Prime Minister, which has been mired in controversy, has once again run into trouble. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking to ban the trailer of the movie which is widely being viewed on video sharing platform YouTube. The PIL for revoking the film’s certificate and for withdrawing its trailer is likely to be listed before the chief justice of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. A stay against the release of the movie has also been asked for on grounds that it has caused ‘unaccountable damage’ to the office of the Prime Minster and ‘will give it a bad name nationally and internationally’.

“It has been alleged that there is violation of several statutory rules and provisions in the movie. If found to be correct, it can be a good ground to accept the plea of the petitioner,” Delhi High Court advocate Ajay Tejpal said.

The movie, which features actors Anupam Kher and Akshay Khanna who are playing the roles of Manmohan Singh and former media advisor Sanjaya Baru to then Prime Minister Singh respectively, is based on a similarly titled book by Baru. It is scheduled to be released Friday.


The PIL has been filed by a Delhi-based fashion designer Pooja Mahajan through her counsel Arun Maitri. On Monday, a single judge bench had disposed the plea saying it should be refiled at a public suit. The plea had stated that the film's producers have not taken consent from Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi. The petitioner added that according to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) guidelines on films based on real-life characters, a 'no objection certificate' (NOC) is required. But for the trailer, no such NOC was obtained, the petitioner said. The plea also requested the court to issue direction to Google and video sharing platform YouTube, besides CBFC, to take steps to stall the trailer, and that the court quash the CBFC's certificate given to the film.

The petition also said the trailer being viewed on YouTube shows other similar titles such as The Election Season and The Kashmir Issue.