Following Protests by Congress Activists, The Accidental Prime Minister Screening Stopped in Ludhiana

The screening of The Accidental Prime Minister was stopped in a multiplex in Punjab's Ludhiana city on Friday following protests by Congress party activists, reports IANS.

Local police and administration officials were present when the Congress protest took place. The activists held a protest outside the Pavilion Mall following which the multiplex management did not begin the show to prevent any untoward incidents. The film was, however, screened in multiplexes in Chandigarh, around 130 km from here.

Likewise, screening of the film was stopped at Hind cinema in Kolkata due to security reasons. Bengal Congress workers had also burnt PM Narendra Modi's effigies.

The film, based on the eponymous book by Dr Manmohan Singh's media advisor Sanjaya Baru of the same name. The book published in 2014, chronicles the time when Singh served as the Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014.

The film sparked a row over the alleged distortion of facts. Many in the Congress party, to which Singh belongs, raised objections over the "incorrect presentation of facts" in the film's trailer, while the BJP praised it as a “riveting tale of how a family held the country to ransom for 10 long years”.

The Maharashtra Youth Congress had also demanded a prior screening of the movie and declared that they wouldn't let the movie release anywhere in the country if their demand was not met.

On Tuesday, a local court in Bihar ordered to register an FIR against Kher and 13 others in connection with the petition filed by Advocate Sudhir Ojha, in which he had alleged that the public figures in the film were portrayed in a manner that projected a poor image of the country. Besides Kher, others named in the complaint include actor Akshaye Khanna, who essays the role of Baru in the film. Actors and actresses who play the roles of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi - then a national general secretary - and Priyanka Vadra, have also been named in the petition alongside the movie's producer Sunil Bohra and director Vijay Gutte.