Indelible marquee Gujarat scripted India's 1st poll film

AHMEDABAD: Short campaign videos in India that seem like a modern electioneering aid might trace their lineage to the canvassing arsenal of Baroda royals. Over five decades ago, a Gujarati was, by all accounts, the first in the country to make a poll-pitch film for a candidate. That candidate, Maharaja Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad, won the Lok Sabha election hands down from the Vadodara seat.

“The idea to make a short film for the Congress (O) struck me when I was travelling in a train to Jambusar in 1971,” Dhiru Mistry, 83, told TOI. “I got down at the Vadodara railway station and approached Congress (O) leaders, offering to make a film on their party. They liked the idea but suggested that I make a film on Maharaja Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad who was contesting on the Congress (O) ticket for Vadodara. ”

Mistry met Gaekwad and asked him about the number of outreach meetings he held in a day. “He said he held three to four meetings daily. I pointed out that by organizing such meetings he can reach out to merely about 2,000 people,” Mistry said. “I proposed the idea of making a short film and told him that he can connect with at least 50,000 people in one go. ”

Gaekwad liked the idea and asked Mistry to meet him at Nivruti Bhavan in the presence of other Congress (O) leaders. “He asked me for the cost and I quoted Rs 5,000. The maharaja said that I would be given Rs 2,500 in advance,” Mistry said. “If he liked the film, I would be paid the dues and if he didn’t, the film would be shelved and I wouldn’t be paid the remainder. ” Mistry agreed to the terms.

Mistry shot a twominute film at Sardar Bhavan featuring Gaekwad and it contained the shots of all the infrastructure and development works commissioned by the royal Gaekwads in the city. “The film was screened at 12 theatres for 10 days in the city and it resonated with the citizens. We also evoked the legacy of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III,” Mistry

said. “Maharaja Fatehsinghrao appreciated the film because it projected precisely the message he wanted to convey to the voters. ”

Scores of candidates approached Mistry to have a similar campaign boost as the film began gathering accolades. He has won other honours too — for instance, the national award for a film on eye donation in 1973.

“As for the Gaekwad film, when I took it to the censor board for certification, the members said that they hadn’t come across such short films for political campaigns,” Mistry said. “That’s when I realized that ours was the first ever short film made for political campaigning in the country. In the later years,
I made short political films for the Congress (O) and the Congress (I). ”