Anupam Kher calls Hansal Mehta out for criticising The Accidental Prime Minister despite getting paid for working on it: ‘You were there for 35 days’

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He said, “I think what irked Mr Kher was my agreement with another senior journalist’s criticism of the film. That might have been ill timed and deemed unnecessary but it reiterated some of my sentiments. Mr Kher is a senior and I will not resort to any mud-slinging towards him, his name calling or his opinions. I might have differences with him but the process of working with him was made pleasant because of his affable nature and commitment. Having said that I have often been self-critical and that is who I am. It helps me evolve and move forward. Nothing or nobody can stop that.”

Anupam Kher reacted to Hansal’s statement and told the publication, “We can go on and on about it. He can reply, I can reply. Point is that you are a Creative Director on this film and you were there for 35 days, you are professionally paid for it and then whether the ship sinks or doesn’t sink, you cannot abandon the ship. You own up your work.”

The actor added that Hansal Mehta was the one who congratulated him and the team including Akshaye Khanna and filmmaker Vijay Gutte. The actor further shared that he could have avoided sharing his opinion altogether, but he felt it was his duty to stand up for the film and own it up.

On December 27, Vir Sanghvi took to his X handle and wrote, “If you want to remember the lies that were told about Manmohan Singh you should rewatch The Accidental Prime Minister It is not only one of the worst Hindi movies ever made but is an example of how media was used to tarnish the name of a good man.”

The HYPOCRITE in this thread is NOT @virsanghvi. He has the freedom to not like a film. But @mehtahansal was the #CreativeDirector of #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister. Who was present at the entire shoot of the film in England! Giving his creative inputs and must have taken the fee… https://t.co/tkr3H1ChyX

— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) December 27, 2024

Talking about his tweet, Anupam said, “What I felt was that Vir Sanghvi has made his comment, you don’t have to get out of your way to say ‘100 percent’, to something which you could have stopped while shooting and said that it is not working, I don’t feel you should do it like this. You were there from the concept based on a book. You could have just walked off.”

He said, “Although I don’t agree with Vir Sanghvi’s opinion. It’s a beautifully made film and based beautifully on the book and I still feel it is one of my best performances of all times. He did great things for our economy. This not the right time to bring this up and pay homage by criticising the film which released four years back. It’s in bad taste.”

The Accidental Prime Minister, based on the Prime Ministership of Manmohan Singh, was released in the year 2019. According to Sacnilk, the film was made on a budget of Rs 25 crore and earned just Rs 26.5 crore globally.