Why Vajpayee is tough act to follow

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Nonika Singh

‘Geet naya gaata hoon…’ Alas, ‘Main Atal Hoon’ does not strike any new note and ends up as a one-note biopic of the Bharat Ratna poet-politician, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As the narrative delves into the life of the former Prime Minister, what we get is an insipid chronicler of events and sadly of the BJP stalwart too.

Inspired by the Marathi book on the poet-leader by Sarang Darshane, ‘Main Atal Hoon’begins on a shrill note with a bit of posturing by the leader who always stood for peace. The moment in question is when the peace initiative of Vajpayee has been spurned by an aggressive Pakistan and the Kargil war is upon us.

A few homilies later, we are taken to his childhood years where Atal the poet is in the making. Hereafter, it’s a linear account of events: Partition, Independence, Nehru’s historic speech which we are reminded is in English, Vajpayee’s political rites of passage which began with the RSS and later formation of the Jana Sangh. For more than a moment, the film becomes all about the statesman’s political affiliations. Of course, the man can’t be distinguished from his beliefs, patriotism very much included. In fact, as the disclaimer itself says, ‘The film is meant to instil desh bhakti’, you know what to expect.

But as things pan out with a romantic interlude too (the lovely Ekta Kaul), it becomes less inspirational and more tedious. The only exception is when Piyush Mishra as Vajpayee’s father makes his impactful presence felt. The father-son bonding, especially the scenes where the father takes admission in the same law college as his son, are perky. But once Vajpayee’s political career begins to acquire shape onscreen, the cinematic engagement dwindles. Much also appears in service of the current political climate. At a time when preparations are afoot for the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, it can’t resist going back in time amidst chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

Mercifully, the film does not demonise the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. One particular sequence marks Vajpayee’s deep regard for Nehru, who is believed to have predicted the rise of Vajpayee as a future Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi’s characterisation, however, is on familiar and unflattering lines. The birth of ‘vanshvaad’ and Emergency, her faults are hammered in and her merits dismissed in one line, once again to accommodate Vajpayee’s large-heartedness. Indeed, to build a political graph of the man who was in Opposition for decades can’t be easy.

Writers Ravi Jadhav, also the director of the film, and Rishi Virmani could have been selective. They could have focused on significant chapters of Vajpayee’s sterling achievements, first as External Affairs Minister and later as Prime Minister (Pokhran test and the Kargil victory are more a footnote here), rather than dwelling on so many incidents. They get the period look right and the actors are not in bad shape either. Yet, despite Pankaj Tripathi’s stellar act, the film fails to rise above the pedestrian treatment. Though in the initial younger days the National Award-winning actor appears a bit misfit, he soon gets into the groove. The body language, the mannerisms, the way he speaks with his eyes half shut, much is on point. Only if the storytelling too had been.

In the current template, it not only gives a short shrift to other characters like LK Advani (Raja Rameshkumar Sevak), it even makes us wonder — did Vajpayee deserve a biopic and finally makes us conclude that he sure deserved a better one.

Though the film uses many of his poems, post credits, we are once again reminded that no one recited Vajpayee’s poetry better than the poet-politician himself. There is both fire and passion when we hear ‘Haar nahin manunga’ in Vajpayee’s voice. The film lacks both. Why it could not provide a single rousing or emotive moment is not its only failing. It flounders in the heroic intent to truly edify its subject and is no match to the gentleman politician’s exemplary persona of a liberal Hindu leader which endures in public memory more than his onscreen representation would. Steadfast the makers may have been in their resolve, but they have been unable to go beyond the surface and the three-word description on some of the posters: PM, poet, statesman.