‘Mere Pyare Prime Minister’ isn’t a political film: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is aware his upcoming “Mere Pyare Prime Minster” can get politicised owing to its title but the filmmaker insists that the film is a “true blue socially relevant” project with no political angle.

The film chronicles the story of a young slum kid who travels to the capital with his friends to meet the Prime Minister, after his mother is raped.

“It sounds like a political film because of the term ‘Prime Minster’ but it is a true blue socially relevant film. There’s no politics there whatsoever. It picks up the idea of rape and how we deal with it, the aftermath and the victim,” Mehra told agencies.

The director, who has helmed films like “Rang De Basanti” and “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, says owing to the title the film “could get” politicised but is assured things will change once people watch it.

“It’s more of a social message film than a political film. Looking at the response after the trailer, it feels the audience has evolved beyond our imagination,” he added.

The film talks about the need of public sanitation through the eyes of an 8-year-old child, who vows to make things better after a tragic incident.

Mehra said that the issue at hand is very sensitive and he has tried to look at it from the victim’s point of view.

“Mere Pyare Prime Minister” stars Anjali Patil, Om Kanujiya and Atul Kulkarni, among others.

The director shot the film on real locations with no sets and was constantly aware he was “invading their lives” and had to be more respectful.

“We cast from the slums. Everything was on real location and we built no sets, even for the home. So how do you shoot a whole film without completely disturbing them? But they were extremely cooperative.

They were going about their work while I was shooting. There were announcements made that ‘do whatever you want to do, but don’t look into the camera!’ Their contribution to the film is amazing,” Mehra added.

The film is scheduled to release on March 15.