Patna, Mar 16: Politicians have always sought the help of Bollywood actors in their election campaigns across the world and India is no exception. But, very rarely, a politician uses old classics for conveying his message to his electorate.
To the surprise of political commentators and critics, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has very carefully crafted an image of a no-nonsense politician, is doing exactly the same.
Amid talks of Nitish Kumar planning to break the alliance with BJP if it declares Modi as its PM candidate, Bihar CM has started reaching out to the public with the list of his government's development schemes.
And this time, instead of relying on old methods like putting out advertisements in newspapers, he has decided to use old Hindi films to disseminate information on development schemes launched by his government in the state.
Nitish government has started the campaign with Raj Kapoor-Waheeda Rahman starrer ‘Teesri Kasam'. This 1966 Bollywood classic is being screened in villages of Bihar through 115 audio-video vans flagged off by the information and public relations minister Brishen Patel. The selection of the film comes as no surprise because everybody knows that Nitish Kumar is a big fan of Raj Kapoor.
The film is being screened from 6 in the morning to 9.30 in the evening. At an interval of every 15-20 minutes, the villagers are being informed about the development schemes launched by the government.
The state govt has admitted that the latest publicity campaign using old Hindi classics will cost over Rs one crore and will last till November this year when the country will be gearing up for 2014 general elections.
It should be recalled that Teesri Kasam was wriiten by renowned Bihari litterateur Phanishwar Nath Renu. The story is set in a rural background and a large portion of the film was shot in the Purnia district of the state. The government believes that apart from the charisma of Raj Kapoor, the rural set up and the Bihari connection to this film will also help in getting maximum attention of the rural electorates.
