Bollywood line-up up to star in India's biggest blockbuster for 5 years

It is election time in India and in Mumbai as well which is considered the home of Bollywood, as well as the best centre for movie collections in India.

And Bollywood thinks that the best way to beat politics and elections is to join them.

While a bevy of actors have pitched in their hat into the ring, others who have made films with a political backdrop are releasing their films around this time.

While Gul Panag of the Aam Aadmi Party will take on Kirron Kher of BJP at Chandigarh, Raju Shrivastav is contesting the elections from Allahabad on a BJP ticket.

Local star Mahesh Manjrekar has preferred a ticket from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in North West Mumbai, and Moon Moon Sen has taken a Trinamool Congress Ticket from Bankura, Bappi Lahiri has opted for a BJP ticket from Serampore and old warhorse Raj Babbar has taken a ticket from Ghaziabad from the Congress.

Paresh Rawal who seems to want to play Narendra Modi in a movie preferred to take a ticket from the BJP from Ahmedabad as opposed to actress Naghma who has taken a Congress ticket from Meerut.

Hema Malini is contesting on a BJP ticket from Mathura.

Shatrughan Sinha has taken a ticket from Patna Sahib from the BJP, while the Janata Dal-United has fielded filmmaker Prakash Jha, who lost the 2009 Lok Sabha battle on LJP ticket.

But then some other filmmakers who want to continue doing their job are making films with politics as the backdrop.

Kangna Ranaut is looking forward to her film Revolver Rani directed by Sai Kabir. Paired opposite Kangna is the actor Vir Das.

Kangna’s character in the film is the central one and is said to be loosely inspired by the life of politician Mayawati.

“Politics is not my cup of tea and I am apolitical,” seems to be Amitabh Bachchan’s refrain. But that does not stop Bachchan who plays a ghost running for the elections in the comedy ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ directed by Nitesh Tiwari who also had politics as the backdrop for his earlier film ‘Chillar Party’.

“Both my films are different and politics is used differently as a subtext in both films,” avers Nitesh about his film.

But then Bachchan is keen that the film releases on time and is done with.

“The production and the direction would rather hope that the film opens before the election process takes place. Elections are not a good time to release the movies,” says Big B.

Subhash Ghai whose upcoming film ‘Kaanchi’ releases during the election period has Mithun Chakraborty playing a politician in the movie.

“But then I wanted to release the film earlier. It has been delayed due to various reasons,” says the filmmaker not agreeing that his film is being released during elections to cash in on the fervor.

‘Youngistaan’ has Jackky Bhagnani playing a politician and a man who is the prime minister of India.

But then looking at the flavor of the season in the country not being the Congress, Bhagnani says that he is not playing any character inspired by Rahul Gandhi.

“It is a film which has no real life references,” he says and adds, “I don’t know how much effect it will have on the box office. A 28 year old Prime Minister has new thoughts to change the country and that is what the film is all about. I am lucky that it’s releasing during elections,” he says.

However the heroine Neha Sharma is super excited, “as it is a beautiful co incidence. My film is a political film and it is election season which makes it very topical.”

Juhi Chawla too believes similarly when asked about her character in the recently released ‘Gulab Gang’.

“Sumitra Devi is a politician and it is a character that I had not done before. I played a manipulator, I think something, but do something else,” she says of her role but rues the fact that the film released before the elections.

While the Salman Khan January release ‘Jai Ho’ also had politics as the underbelly of the film, Salman Khan’s brother in law Atul Agnihotri has his O Teri also being made with politics as the underbelly.

“Through Our film ‘O Teri’ we feel responsible enough to encourage people to get out of their homes and vote. Our film is a fun take on everything that hurts our country.

“So what better release-date than March 28, which is so close to the elections? My brother's turning 18 soon. After watching the film he said "Bhai, We have the power to change India and voting is that power". That for me sums up how effective our film is as a satire that makes you laugh and think for India,” says Pulkit Samrat, the hero of the film.

Aamir Khan for one managed to launch the second season of his TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ well in time before the elections.

“Elections are bound to affect everything. The country will be concentrating on the elections. Most Indians, me included, are interested in socio-political topics and other subjects will be of least interest till the elections are over,” he opines.

Ask actress Vidya Balan who restarted the trend of women-based films with 'Dirty Picture' and 'Kahaani' whether she finds any interest in politics as none of her films are releasing now. “Some of our politicians are such brilliant actors. I will welcome them to Bollywood, but I have no interest going there,” she smiles.

Touche!

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