The Accidental Prime Minister

The Accidental Prime Minister is an Indian historical drama about Manmohan Singh's years as Prime Minister of India, told through the perspective of Sanjaya Baru, Singh's media adviser. The film follows Singh's long career in public institutions, including his time as head of the country's central bank and as finance minister, before he took the top office in 2004. At its centre is the tension between his authority as prime minister and the influence exercised over his cabinet and the government by others around him. Anupam Kher plays Singh, while Akshaye Khanna appears as Baru. Suzanne Bernert, Arjun Mathur, Aahana Kumra and Divya Seth Shah are among the credited cast, which numbers twenty-one, with forty-five crew members credited.

The film is based on Baru's memoir. It was directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mayank Tewari and Aditya Sinha, and produced by Dhaval Jayantilal Gada. It was released on 11 January 2019 and runs 111 minutes.

Audience response has been mixed. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6 out of 10 from around 8,500 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 5.3 out of 10 from a much smaller number of 27 votes. The gap in vote counts between the two platforms means the IMDb figure rests on far more viewer input, though neither score is high, suggesting a largely divided reaction to the film.