Producer of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sandeep Singh dismissed the charge that the film was meant to influence voters during the election season, hours after the Supreme Court declined a plea seeking a stay on its release.
Expressing his happiness over the apex court's verdict Singh said, "Me and my entire team who worked on the biopic are thankful to the judiciary. Finally, justice has been done to the film and now we are completely relaxed."
"We were initially worried as to whether the film would be released or not. As soon as we got to know that the case has gone to the Supreme Court, and Kapil Sibal sahib and Abhishek Singhvi ji have knocked the doors of the Supreme Court, we were worried. And now finally after the order, the entire team is really happy and most importantly that the film is hitting the theatres on April 11," he said.
Dismissing allegations that the film was spreading propaganda, the producer went on to say, "PM Narendra Modi does not require a film or require people like Sandeep Singh and Vivek Oberoi to make a film and promote him or BJP because people have already decided whom they want to vote and bring to power in the 2019 elections. So I don't think a film will influence anybody to vote."
The producer slammed the opposition and said, "Any political party like SP, Congress, DMK, everybody who were against this film and wanted a ban on the film or they wanted the film to be postponed, I think they should really think about the work they have done for their respective states in last so many years. Only if they can showcase that in front of the public, it will definitely increase their vote count, and whether they are scared or not, it was pretty evident when they went to the Election Commission and after not getting any answer from the commission, they knocked the doors of the Supreme Court, while few went to the Bombay High Court."
Talking about the allegations on the release of the film by the opposition, he said, "I understand that people have reacted on each and every aspect of the film, be it the trailer or the release date. But as producer and filmmaker, we want to release the film at the right time where we can also get our business as making a film is not an easy task. We have put in a lot of money in making of this biopic. So for it to do well we need to release it at the right time.
"There are people who release films around festivals like Holi, Diwali, Eid, Christmas, that time there are none to questions, so why are people raising questions regarding this film," he said.
The biopic was initially scheduled for release on April 5 but its release date got postponed to April 11, which falls in the first phase of polling of Lok Sabha elections.
The film helmed by Omung Kumar has been criticised by the opposition parties, which believe that the biopic may give an undue advantage to BJP in the polls.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)