3 min readNew DelhiJun 12, 2026 02:06 PM IST
Governor movie review: During 1990-92, RBI governor S Venkitaramanan skilfully steered India out of imminent financial collapse by pledging the gold in his vaults. It wasn’t an easy decision, and it was not his alone to make: the political powers that be, including the caretaker government of Chandrashekhar and the then PM P V Narasimha Rao, and a skeptical deputy, had to be convinced.
Manoj Bajpayee plays the titular Governor in a film of the same name, armed with an on-and-off Tamil accent, and a great deal of seriousness, given the grave nature of the enterprise he was about to embark on. Given the bent of the film, it is no surprise that future PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s enthusiastic support is the fillip the governor needs to get set on a daring exercise, more so because financial mavens presiding over the nation’s wealth are notoriously conservative when it comes to doing anything out of the norm.
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Depending on where you stand, the film’s release at this time could be a stroke of perfect timing, or high irony, when seasoned observers are warning of a similar level of financial distress, with talk of conserving gold. And it could have worked as a timely comment, if only there was finesse: but being cautionary while casting an eye on the past is not this film’s burden.
The intention is clear in the depiction of Manmohan Singh, the prime architect of liberalisation, which changed India in ways no one who lived through those restricted times could imagine. The film shows the Governor, who has by now won over his deputy (Noushad Mohamed Kunju) handing over a robust bank balance to Singh, who is shown to be a meek recipient.
Meanwhile, the far-seeing governor himself channels the iconic Bhiku Mhatre character as he dangles his feet over a tall building, taking life lessons from a crafty peon, and his thrifty, understanding-the-value-of-gold wife (Madhoo). All we are missing is him yelling into the wind, Mumbai ka king kaun.
An intrepid reporter (Adah Sharma), who seems to be the only one who smells a rat, while calling an intern ‘Popat’, threatens to blow the lid off the biggest story of the time : her helpless editor playing along at her sudden attack of conscience is just plain laughable. When will Hindi cinema get its basics right when it comes to portraying the workings of journalists?
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As befits propaganda films in the same vein as ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’, the story-telling is as basic as it can get, with clunky computer graphics replacing actual vistas. No one blinks when the governor himself leads a cat-and-mouse game as he goes about fixing traffic snarls and readying planes for the precious cargo. There’s more where this came from, making ‘Governor’ a perfect fit for these times when people are willing to believe anything.
Governor movie cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Noushad Mohamed Kunju, Madhoo, Adah Sharma, Paritosh Sand
Governor movie director: Chinmay D Mandlekar
Governor movie rating: 1.5 stars
