The PM’s Bollywood debut?

Hundreds gathered at the National Gallery of Modern Art near India Gate on Saturday evening. A film shooting was underway and word had spread that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was on the sets. Neha Sharma writes.

Hundreds gathered at the National Gallery of Modern Art near India Gate on Saturday evening. A film shooting was underway and word had spread that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was on the sets.

Though PM wasn’t really there, no one was disappointed as his look-alike Gurmit Singh, 65, kept the crowds entertained while he shot for his debut Bollywood flick.

Singh, who plays the PM in filmmaker Suhaib Ilyasi’s Act 498 A: The Wedding Gift, obliged fans with autographs and photos on the sets.

“When Suhaib sent me the script, I showed it to my legal advisor and we both liked it. But, I had made it clear that if even one scene showed the PM in a negative light, I would not do the role,” says Singh, who had five scenes in the film.

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“Main bilkul bhi nervous nahi hoon,” he laughs, saying the experience will enrich his life.

In the scene shot on Saturday, NGMA had been done up to look like the high court.

Though he refuses to admit that his look is inspired by the PM, he confesses that their similarity has made him a hero.

“Main din mein 50-60 photo khichwaata hun. I took the metro for the first time yesterday and people started clicking me. When I visited my son in Canada we went to Niagra Falls, even there people asked to take photos with me.”

Who is Gurmit singh?
Gurmit Singh, 65, is a member of All India Congress Committee
He lives in Delhi’s Jungpura Colony and studied in Karnal
He worked with the PM in the late 1990s and happily flaunts pictures of them together