Robin Bhuyan
In the last decade or so, biopics have become a popular genre in Bollywood. These films are generally based on true events, and they promise to give us a portrayal of a certain celebrity or a historical figure. However, sometimes, these biopics don’t do justice, and instead distorts, dramatizes or even fabricates the story. Here, we are going to take a look at 5 Bollywood biopics, which may have been cinematic gems, but does not show you the entire truth!
- Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is a 2020 film which released on Netflix, which revolved around the life of soldier Gunjan Saxena, one of the first women from India to fly in a combat zone. She had played a significant role in the Kargil War. The film focused on themes of women empowerment, but where the movie fails in is its unrealistic portrayal of the Indian Air Force. The film tries to be unnecessarily preachy and shows the Indian Air Force to be “patriarchal” and “oppressive”, just to make its point.
- PM Narendra Modi
The 2019 film PM Narendra Modi was directed by Omung Kumar, who had previously directed the two well-known biopics Mary Kom and Sarabjit. Starring Vivek Oberoi in the lead role of Narendra Modi, the film has received a lot of criticism for overly glorifying India’s Prime Minister. The film has been accused of being a propaganda work to bolster the image of PM Modi, and it can even be said that the film tries to blur out the lines between entertainment and political propaganda. Even supporters of BJP and Modi has expressed their dislike for this film, due to the film’s extreme bias and presenting the Prime Minister as a flawless and larger than life character, while downplaying any criticism about him. It won’t be even wrong to call the film an unintentional comedy!
- Jodhaa Akbar
Jodhaa Akbar, a 2008 film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, which was based on the life of Mughal ruler Akbar and his Rajput wife Jodha Bai, had received a lot of appreciation due to its performances and musical score. However, despite its cinematic brilliance, the film had also faced criticism for its departure from historical accuracies in multiple aspects. Historians argue that Jodha Bai was actually not the wife of Akbar but may have been actually the mother of his son Jahangir. One thing that many of us might have also not noticed back then is how the film simplifies and romanticizes Akbar’s battles and conquests, portraying them as driven by his noble intentions, rather than political strategies and motivations.
- Sanju
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, this biographical film was based on the life of actor Sanjay Dutt. The film gained a lot of appreciation due to Ranbir Kapoor’s portrayal of Dutt, which
was ultra realistic! There were times when you had to wonder whether you are seeing Dutt on the screen, or is it Ranbir! However, as most of us already know, the film tries to downplay Dutt’s connections with the Mumbai underworld. It tries to whitewash the actor’s image, and also doesn’t show much aspects of his life, even ignoring his relationship with Madhuri Dixit! How Madhuri Dixit alienated herself from Dutt after his alleged involvement in the Mumbai blasts were an important part of his life, but the film completely ignored several such important facts!
- Raazi
Directed by Meghna Gulzar, Raazi may have been a great film in terms of cinematic brilliance, but if we talk about historical accuracies, the film fails. The film was adapted from a book titled Calling Sehmat, written by Harinder S. Sikka. The story revolves around a Kashmiri girl in the 1970s named Sehmat Khan, who marries a Pakistani army officer, in order to place herself as an undercover operative within the Pakistani army household. After the film’s release, Harinder Sikka alleged that the film took a Pro-Pakistani stand and tries to sympathize with them, which was not a part of his novel. He also claimed that director Meghna Gulzar had tweaked the story to show RAW in a bad light.
If we talk about inaccuracies and distortions in biopics, there would be many such films, whether we talk about Bollywood or Hollywood. However, we have listed the top five movies in this list, and while watching biopics, it is important to remember that whatever you are seeing on the screen is mostly for entertainment and might not be the entire truth!
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