Paresh Rawal’s upcoming film, a biopic on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, will finally see the light of day. Embroiled in controversy over it’s subject, the Central Board of Film Certification had denied giving it a certificate, until the Bombay High Court recently gave it a go ahead with zero cuts.

Considering the kneejerk reactions sensitive subjects attract, is it tough to make a political film in India today, we ask Paresh. “It’s tough to make any film, aisa lag raha hai mujhe toh abhi,” he says, “Social media kisi ke bhi upar haawi ho jaata hai, sometimes rightfully, sometimes wrongly. But if your neeyat and neeti are good, if your intentions are not wrong, and the film has been made with honesty, then you should not think about people. I would never be able to understand what each person wants. I can only make something which I like, you narrow down your choices this way. Yogi ji jaisa character hai toh maamla critical ho jaata hai, CBFC saavdhan rehti hai.”

Also read: Bombay HC clears Yogi Adityanath biopic for release, raps CBFC for refusing certificate

As for the objections by CBFC, the 70-year-old adds, “The Court asked their lawyer ‘have you watched the film or read the book it’s based on? You should have done your homework !’ He had not. Pata nahi kyun, samajh mein nahi aata ki aisa kyun karte hain voh.”

The one constant belief about biopics has been makers tend to whitewash the subject sometimes. Paresh had starred in another biopic, Sanju in 2018, which had attracted the same criticism. The actor replies, “The man is alive right now and still working, he is in the middle of his career. The film’s story is till the point Yogi ji reached politics. It’s his untold story, jo public mein hai usko aap untold nahi bol sakte. There’s nothing to whitewash here.”

And how does he look at the trolling which takes place on social media, where reactions are real-time and can get vicious? He says, “Main darne wala nahi hoon yaar, trolls ko toh main achhi tarah jawaab bhi dena jaanta hoon. They post something quickly on social media today. Jiski baat koi ghar wale bhi nahi sunte the, unki baat pe agar duniya charcha karti hai toh unhe achha lagta hai.”