'BJP Has a Lot of Money and is Busy Misusing it': Congress Reacts to 'The Accidental Prime Minister'

New Delhi: Amid the controversy surrounding the release of upcoming movie trailer, ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Saturday termed it as "nothing more than a gimmick" and alleged that the ruling BJP was "misusing" its money for such a film.

"It is nothing more than a gimmick. The BJP has a lot of money. It is busy ensuring how to misuse it or use it for a gimmick (like this). Let them do whatever they want to do. Such films come and go, are made and unmade...all these things keep happening. We do not want to comment on that," said Patel.

The film is based on the book of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, who served as then prime minister Manmohan Singh's media adviser from 2004 to 2008.

Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, the film stars Anupam Kher in the lead role as Singh and Akshaye Khanna as his media adviser Baru and is scheduled to release in theatres on January 11.

Earlier, sharing the trailer on its official Twitter handle, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had said the film was a "riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years".

On being asked if the movie is one of the strategies to make a political statement ahead of the 2019 elections, Anupam Kher, the National award winning actor, said: "Why not? What is the problem in releasing a political film around elections? We do release patriotic films on national holidays..."

Citing a number of Hollywood political biographical dramas, Kher said when films on Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi are made abroad their actors get Oscar recognition. So, likewise, he should also be nominated for one.

Earlier at the trailer launch of the film, Kher said that The Accidental Prime Minister was open to interpretations and it would be wrong to say that it supports or criticises a particular political party.