Yet another Congress party politician has raised objections to Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar, which deals with the Emergency imposed by prime minister Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977. Former Member of Parliament Sanjay Nirupam has written a letter to Central Board of Film Certification chief Pahlaj Nihalani stating that he would like to watch Indu Sarkar before it is censored because he wants to be sure that the party leaders “are not shown in bad light.”
Indu Sarkar stars Supriya Vinod as Indira Gandhi and Neil Nitin Mukesh as her son Sanjay Gandhi. The film explores the excesses of the Emergency, during which civil liberties were suspended and press freedom was undermined, through the titular heroine played by Kriti Kulhari.
Jagdish Tytler had previously written to Bhandarkar threatening “legal action over defamation” because of a character that resembles him. Bhandarkar insists that Indu Sarkar is not a “political film”, and that it is simply a “human story about a woman who stands up for her rights, against the backdrop of the Emergency”.
Indu Sarkar is scheduled for a July 28 release. “The trailer of the film says it is a film on Emergency and hence we can see the likes of our beloved leaders like Indira Gandhi ji, Sanjay Gandhiji & senior leaders of Indian National Congress. We therefore want to be certain that our leaders are not shown in bad light & hence would like to see the film before it is censored,” Nirupam wrote in his letter.