A still from the film ‘Chalo Jeete Hain’.
Chalo Jeete Hain, a 32-minute short film, reportedly inspired by the early life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was screened at the Rajya Sabha secretariat on Wednesday in presence of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Jayant Sinha and JP Nadda.
While the movie does not claim to be the Prime Minister’s official biography, sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat told The Indian Express: “The story is about this young boy, who goes asking his parents and others…what’s it that you live for after reading a phrase… ‘a winner is one who lives for others’… The young boy is…Narendra Modi…”
On Tuesday, the movie was also screened at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for President Ram Nath Kovind, with senior government officials claiming the request for the screening had come from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Prime Minister’s Office. The Rashtrapati Bhavan has, however, has denied such a claim.
“The filmmakers wrote to us and said that this is a film about the innocence of childhood and about young people helping each other. They said they would like to show it to President Kovind. The President gave his consent and it was screened on Tuesday. Such screenings have happened in the past too. Such values are encouraged,” Ashok Malik, Press Secretary to President Ramnath Kovind, told The Indian Express.
President Ram Nath Kovind attended a special screening of Chalo Jeete Hain at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee had watched several films in the Rashtrapati Bhavan auditorium, including ‘Pink’ and ‘Piku’.
Union Ministers, who watched the movie on Wednesday, took to Twitter to praise it. While Piyush Goyal said the movie on Modi’s life is inspiring, Ravi Shankar Prasad, without mentioning the PM, called the movie extraordinary.
#PresidentKovind watched the film Chalo Jeete Hain at a special screening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre. Directed by Mangesh Hadawale, the film captures the theme of childhood and innocence, empathy and fraternity pic.twitter.com/auTWpyK8cP
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) July 24, 2018
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With less than a year for the next Lok Sabha elections, the movie, which shares visible hints on Modi’s childhood, has drawn much attention.
Director Mangesh Hadawale said the movie revolves around a boy ‘Naru’, who is inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s words: “Wahi jeete hain, jo doosro ke liye jeete hain. (Only those live who live for others).” On his website, Hadawale is quoted as saying that he had found a cinematic appeal when he had “stumbled upon incidents from Naru’s childhood”. He, however, doesn’t mention the PM directly.
However, sources said, the protagonist of the movie have several things in common with the PM. He is seen selling tea at a railway station and is influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings.
Earlier, a comic book ‘Bal Narendra’ had hit the markets months before 2014 LS elections.