Film is an opportunity to learn more about Modi, says Vivek Oberoi

The Bollywood star opens up on PM Modi, based on the life of India's Prime Minister, that is set to release this weekend.

The movie PM Narendra Modi has been in the eye of a storm ever since its inception. After a lot of delays, the film is finally releasing this weekend, but it seems that controversy's favourite child, Vivek Oberoi is in the mood to create more 'buzz' about this film. On Monday afternoon, he tweeted a derogatory meme featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan which was met with a negative response from everyone.
His tweet showed a set of three photos - one referring to an 'opinion poll' having a picture of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai, next was the 'exit poll' depicting himself with the actress and the third showing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with her husband Abhishek Bachchan and their seven-year-old daughter Aaradhya. The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday asked Vivek to give an explanation for his "misogynistic" tweet on exit polls. Even, the Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC) found his post disrespectful to women.
Despite the backlash from social media users, and many celebrities, Oberoi was pretty adamant that he had done no wrong and insisted that he would stand by his tweet.
However, as of yesterday morning, he had to backtrack and delete the tweet with this message: "Sometimes what appears to be funny and harmless at first glance to one, may not be so to others. I have spent the last 10 years empowering more than 2,000 underprivileged girls; I can't even think of being disrespectful to any woman ever. Even if one woman is offended by my reply to the meme, it calls for remedial action. Apologies tweet deleted."
City Times spoke to the actor on Tuesday morning, right after he was forced to delete the tweet. Despite our best efforts, he however refused to talk about the controversial meme.

Here are some excerpts from our conversation with Vivek on PM Narendra Modi which is based on the life of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The film, directed by Omung Kumar B, was slated to release on April 11, the day the Lok Sabha elections began, but it was denied permission by the Election Commission, as it was thought it would curry favour for Modi in the elections and the need was felt to ensure there was a level playing field in the polls.

Are you excited that your film is finally releasing after a lot of delays?
I am very excited that the film is finally releasing. After all the stopping, and all the drama, in terms of the court and the Election Commission, finally, we are coming out there.
On May 23, PM Modi is coming back, and on May 24, PM Narendra Modi is coming out on the big screen across 40 countries. It is quite an excitement that people will go out and celebrate his victory in the theatre and watch his story on the big screen.

How many times have you met Narendra Modi so far?
I have had the good fortune of knowing him and being friends with him since he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. I have seen his journey from becoming a Chief Minister to a Prime Minister. I love his vision and admire what he represented in the progress of the nation. It gave me an advantage while I was doing this film. It was a lot easier to understand and study his body language and mannerism because I had reference to lots of anecdotes and a lot of conversation because of that friendship and the equation that I shared with him over the years.

It is evident that you are a Modi admirer. But do you relate to his ideologies and thinking pattern well?
A lot of people tell me that I love Modi and I tell them I love his work and not Modi. I love his work because of what he has done for the country and what he has achieved for the nation is incredible.

Do you see yourself joining politics someday?
Not at all. I have been offered a Member of Parliament ticket since 2004 - five times including a by-election, across the board from regional and national parties. And I have always said no. I don't think that's my space. Jokingly, I always say, 'Why be an MP when you can be a PM on screen?"

There are a lot of people who do not relate to Modi's vision, and they are very vocal about it as well. Do you feel that in the last few years, India has been divided in the name of religion?
I travel a lot on the ground. I meet a lot of social workers since I do a lot of outreach programmes. My social work takes me down to the absolute lowest economy level of society. I work with poor farmers, children of labourers in that space. I interact with a lot of people. I am not saying this because I read an opinion piece in an international magazine by a journalist. I am saying this because I have been on the ground, meeting people.
I think from the British time, there has been a policy in India of 'divide and rule'. I think Modi has changed the formula to 'unite and rule'. I think the way he is progressing is impressive because instead of dividing India into caste, religion, and community, he is looking at uniting India for a better future, and that is reflective in the exit polls.
He got votes from people of all communities and religions. I met so many Muslim women who think that he is their hero because of his work and advocacy on women's right primarily related to triple talaak. I think this whole divider or polarizer concept is the fallacy that has been propagated.
How do you react when you read news about innocent old people being beaten up or little kids of a specific religion being asked to go to another country, in this current political climate?
From all sides of ideology, you have a Twitter Taliban. They are extraordinarily aggressive and intolerant because they have the advantage of anonymity, and they get away with saying anything that they want to say. Some people are pro-Modi, and some are anti-Modi. I am not a fan of this abuse. I feel that there should be a rational debate. I am not a fan of being abusive on either side. To me, that is Twitter Taleban.
Do you believe that an artist should have creative and moral responsibility in today's world?
Every actor should have their freedom, and that is the hallmark of a healthy democracy - freedom to be involved or to not be involved, and one should respect their freedom.

What are your other upcoming projects?
I have been shooting Inside Edge, and I am excited about doing season 3. After PM Narendra Modi releases, I will begin shooting for Inside Edge season 3. Aside from that, I have signed something with Ekta Kapoor. We are collaborating after Shootout at Lokhandwala. I have also signed up something else, which I will talk about later.

Has Modi seen the trailer as yet?
As the climax of this film is left in suspense, I would like to leave this question also in suspense.

Can you tell us more about your transformation process for the role of playing Narendra Modi?
The transformation process and the study details, whether it was prosthetic makeup or the efforts towards his mannerism,  I watched thousands of hours of his videos, read biographies, and went through all his interviews. The entire process took me around five months.

Vivek and Sonam's war of words

Reacting to Vivek's insensitive tweet, Sonam Kapoor called it 'disgusting and classless.' While talking to ANI, Vivek said, "I've been working in women empowerment for 10 years now. I don't think this is hurting anyone's sentiments. I want to advice you not to overact in your movie and also not to overreact on your social media."

The Infamous Press Con

2002: Made his debut with Ram Gopal Verma's Company
2003: Vivek held a press conference in which he alleged that Salman Khan called him 41 times and threatened to kill him. He said that Salman was upset because Aishwarya Rai, his former girlfriend, had dumped him after he abused her. Vivek was allegedly dating Aishwarya at that time.
2009: He gave an interview to Farah Khan for a television show where he spoke about the aftermath of the press conference. "When I sat at the press conference, there was a voice from inside which was telling me that I was doing something wrong. But I was under the influence of someone very dear to me; hence, I did that press conference.
Overnight, I went from being a loverboy to an outcast. Producers were asking me to return their signing amounts. Sohail was a good friend of mine, and I felt horrible that I let down my friend. I had to start all over again."

arti@khaleejtimes.com