Actor Anupam Kher and filmmaker Hansal Mehta's verbal spat over the 2019 film The Accidental Prime Minister is currently dominating the headlines. 

Advertisment

The virtual spat started after Kher publicly called out the filmmaker for supporting the post calling the movie based on Dr Manmohan Singh's tenure as Prime Minister of India, "one of the worst Hindi movies ever made".

Also read: Marathi actor Urmila Kothare’s car accidentally runs over 2 labourers in Mumbai, 1 killed

As Anupam Kher and Hansal Mehta's war of words dominate the headline, here's a detailed explanation of the virtual spat.

Advertisment

How it all started?

The feud began after Kher saw Hansal giving his thumbs up to a post saying The Accidental Prime Minister was a perfect example of how media was used to tarnish the name of a good man.

Advertisment

Criticising the film, journalist Vir Sanghvi 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 (sic).”

Reacting to this, Hansal wrote, “+100.”

Anupam Kher's calls out Hansal

Responding to Hansal's reaction, Anupam called the director a hypocrite as he went on to reveal that he was a creative director of the movie that he had indirectly criticised. 

Also read: Pakistani actress Hania Aamir speaks out on verbal abuse by US event organizers: 'Was called names, told to get out'

Anupam wrote, "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 also for it. So for him to say 100% to #VirSanghvi's comment is so messed up and full of double standards! Not that I agree with Mr. Sanghvi but we are all capable of doing bad or indifferent work. But we should OWN it. Not like #HansalMehta trying to earn some brownies from certain section of people. Common Hansal!! Grow up! I still have all our videos and pics of the shoot together!"

Hansal's reaction and apology

In no time, Hansal responded to Kher's words and said that what he did was his job as a professional. 

Re-sharing Kher's post, he wrote, ''Of course I own my mistakes Mr Kher. And I can admit that I made a mistake. Can’t I sir? I did my job as professionally as I was allowed to. Can you deny that? But it doesn’t mean I have to keep defending the film or that it makes me lose objectivity about my error of judgement. About brownie points and hypocrisy I respectfully submit that you seem to be evaluating people by the same yardstick you evaluate yourself."

In a follow-up post, he apologised to the actor saying that he wished to speak to him and clear things. 

"And by the way @anupampkher sir... you can say all you want. Call me names if you wish. Apologies if I’ve inadvertently hurt you. Sending love to you. Whenever you wish we will speak and clear the air. I will not give space to trolls to distort this further and have a field day at our expense. Good night, belated X’mas greetings and a happy new year in advance. To you and to all the hyperactive trolls (sic)."

More about The Accidental Prime Minister

Released in 2019, the movie, based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, features Kher as Manmohan Singh and revolves around his time as Prime Minister of India.

The film also starred Akshaye Khanna as Sanjaya Baru, Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi, Suzanne Bernert as Sonia Gandhi, and Aahana Kumra as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.