Main Atal Hoon Movie Review: Main Atal Hoon begins in 1999 with then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, portrayed by Pankaj Tripathi, preparing the nation for war against Pakistan. Predictably, Main Atal Hoon concludes at the same point, highlighting the victory of the Kargil War as the crowning glory of Vajpayee's prime ministerial reign. In between, the narrative resembles someone meticulously refining the Wikipedia page of the former PM and a prominent figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party, eliminating any murky details. Those that remain undergo a thorough scrubbing, resulting in a biopic competing with one where Vivek Oberoi was unsuitably cast as the present PM. The only scene I felt missing was Vajpayee raising his arms during the Babri Masjid riots, proclaiming, "Mera Bharat jal raha hai." It does come close, though. Main Atal Hoon: Pankaj Tripathi Meets Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Ahead of Film Release.

Main Atal Hoon - A Honest Biopic?

In Main Atal Hoon, we witness the life journey of the former PM and perennial RSS admirer, from his childhood fear of public speaking to evolving into a master orator and ultimately holding the premier position of Indian governance three times. The biopic navigates through incidents of his life intertwined with speeches, when needing to exude aggression, and poems, when needed to project calmness. Bollywood often produces biopics that feel like hagiographies, and given the film's subject and potential political affiliations, my expectations were clear when I walked into Main Atal Hoon's screening. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed, but I still wanted to ask: What's going on with the movie's casting?

Watch the Trailer of Main Atal Hoon:

Casting Mis-Coup

This is a film that passes off Tripathi as a 20-year-old at one point and expects us to be okay with it. Actors are cast based on their resemblance to the real-life personalities they are playing rather than having actual histrionics. Despite Tripathi's commendable oratory scenes, the overall performance tends to mimic rather than embody the portrayed personality. But then, the stilted performances and even dialogue delivery feel like hardly a priority for the makers, where the bigger task is to use the late Bajpayee's biopic as a white-washing exercise for his political associations.

A Still From Main Atal Hoon

Saaf Safai!

Still, I was curious about how Main Atal Hoon dealt with the sketchy parts of the organisations Mr Vajpayee was associated with or some of the controversial events that he was involved in. And what I got to see was amusing, to say the least. The film avoids mentioning the RSS's lack of involvement during the Quit India movement, though it shows a young Vajpayee replacing the Union Jack flag at a local police station with the Indian tricolour (that was proposed by Congress). Never mind, the former PM himself denied being involved in the Quit India movement quite a few times.

A Still From Main Atal Hoon

During the partition riots, it is shown in the movie how skull-capped Muslims were on the streets with swords while the benign Hindu outfit was merely policing the area on their cycles. The film implies that Vajpayee's speech broke Pandit Nehru's heart after India's loss to China in the 1962 war, leading to Nehru's demise. The Kashmiri Pandit exodus is only briefly mentioned, though the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the '80s is prominently featured (along with chants of "Jai Shri Ram"). As for the Babri Masjid riots, let's just say the film only shows victims belonging to one religion, and you can guess which that would be. The massacre that the riots caused is never explicitly shown, but we do get to see Vajpayee mourning about the loss of lives and how he didn't see this coming. For someone who has been praised previously for his foresight and statesmanship, this lapse is forgotten in the victim complex. Main Atal Hoon Song 'Hindu Tan Man': Kailash Kher Lends His Voice To Latest Track For Pankaj Tripathi Starrer.

A Still From Main Atal Hoon

It becomes objectively difficult to review a film like this, when the sanitation intentions of the makers are as clear as water. But Main Atal Hoon's treatment of its screenplay as a patchwork of events, resembling a docudrama with subpar acting, makes the job easier. Surprisingly, the present PM is absent from the movie events, perhaps to avoid addressing the 2002 riots and making the film end on a high by defeating Pakistan.

Final Thoughts on Main Atal Hoon

A scene in the film where Vajpayee and Advani discuss cinema's ability to manipulate facts and deceive the public encapsulates Main Atal Hoon's existence perfectly. You can call it a glorifying exercise or propaganda, but even disregarding these aspersions, Main Atal Hoon simply doesn't click with its textbook narrative, template treatment that aims to please its target-base and subpar performances.

Rating:1.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2024 10:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).