Narendra Modi’s biopic to release on May 24

New Delhi: 'PM Narendra Modi', the biopic on the Prime Minister starring Vivek Oberoi, will now arrive in theatres on 24 May, 2019, a day after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results.

Earlier last month, the Election Commission had banned the film until the end of elections, saying its release would interfere with free and fair polling. A Supreme Court bench headed by chief justice Ranjan Gogoi also said it was not inclined to entertain the application filed by producers of the biopic challenging the Election Commission's order. The film was initially scheduled to release on 11 April, to coincide with the start of polling, but the Election Commission stayed the screening, citing violation of the model code of conduct, and said in its order that any biopic made for any political entity that had the potential to disturb the level-playing field during the elections should not be displayed in the electronic media.

Following an appeal made by the producers to the Supreme Court that the EC’s decision was arbitrary given that it had not watched the film, the EC had submitted that the movie was in fact eulogizing the political leader, and producing an environment where an individual acquires cult status, besides showing Opposition parties in poor light.

“As responsible citizens, we respect the law of the country. After a lot of discussions and keeping the curiosity and excitement about the film in mind we have decided to release it immediately after the Lok Sabha election results. I hope now nobody has any problem with the film and we are hoping for a smooth release this time,” producer Sandip Singh said in a statement.

Apart from Oberoi, the film features Boman Irani, Manoj Joshi, Prashant Narayanan, Zarina Wahab, Barkha Sengupta, Anjan Shrivastav, Yatin Karyekar, Ramakant Dayma, Akshat R Saluja, Jimesh Patel and Darshan Kumaar in important roles. It has been directed by Omung Kumar.