'The UP Files' director on making a film on Yogi Adityanath: Inspiring other leaders

'The UP Files' director Neeraj Sahai spoke to us about making a film based on the life of Yogi Adityanath, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He also talked about inspiring other state leaders with his cinema.

In Short

• 'The UP Files' is currently running in theatres
• It stars Manoj Joshi, Milind Gunaji, Manjari Fadnis and Anil George
• The film is based on the work of UP CM, Yogi Adityanath

Director Neeraj Sahai, whose latest film 'The UP Files' is currently running in theatres, talked about making a film on the life and work of Yogi Adityanath, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. In an exclusive interview with IndiaToday.in, he spoke about the need for making a political film, and the intention behind it.

Sahai said, "This is not about the life story of Yogi Adityanath ji. It is inspired by his work for a state. This shows his journey as the leader of Uttar Pradesh. We are not talking about his personal life, we are talking about his work here. The intention is to make a film which can inspire the other state leaders to show the same courage as him."

The director recalled the other films based in Uttar Pradesh. He said most of these films glorify UP as a criminal state and that irked him as a filmmaker and also as someone who belongs to the state. "Most of the films that are based in Uttar Pradesh show a negative side of the state. This is a positive film about its growth. We are not showing any criminal activities. We are saying there's a leader who understood the essence of his state and worked towards growth," he said.

He added, "I am from UP. I know how the state was infested with crime, gang wars, crimes against women. Many Chief Ministers came before Yogi ji but none of them cared to fix the problem. It was always about politics. Yogi Adityanath is a saint. He only focussed on the transformation of this state. We felt there was a need to highlight the problem and to show how one man did the unthinkable."

For Neeraj Sahai, 'The UP Files' is an attempt to create cinema which can inspire and help transform other leaders in the country. "The idea also is to make other state leaders feel guilty and ashamed of their work. We want them to watch our film and feel inspired to do better work for the people of their state," he concluded.

The film features National Award-winning actor, Manoj Joshi playing the role inspired by Yogi Adityanath. It also stars Milind Gunaji, Anil George, Manjari Fadnis, Ali Asgar and Aman Verma, among others. The film is produced by Kuldeep Umraosingh Ostwal.