HRD and Bollywood: Smriti Irani to juggle two starring roles

After having been sworn into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani is a woman with many pressing priorities. One of them surprisingly will be acting in director Umesh Shukla’s All is Well. An Indian Express quoted Shukla as saying, “Smriti Irani has already shot extensively with Rishi Kapoor and Abhishek. We are now shooting a song on a train with Abhishek and Asin. After that Smriti Irani is joining us for the rest of the shooting.” [caption id=“attachment_1572799” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Smriti Irani. AFP[/caption] Irani plays Rishi Kapoors wife and Abhishek Bachchan’s mother in the film. Those who have watched the never-ending Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi would know that Irani was deft at playing both the bahu and the mother. While the film role may be a breeze, we can’t help wonder: What about her other starring role as cabinet minister? More specifically, Modi’s minister? Firstpost had earlier reported that Team Modi has been sleep-deprived under a PM who is a workaholic, and expects everyone to keep up with his pace. The report said that ministers in Modi’s government were not even allowed vacations. Modi who maintains a punishing 18-hour daily schedule,  has not made life very easy for his ministers and bureaucrats, from whom he expects the same levels of work and commitment. Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal once got a call from Modi at 9 am and was asked to meet him in 10 minutes. Clearly, Modi wants his at his beck and call. The HRD ministry is an important one and Modi has touted his ‘choti behen’ (sister) Irani’s hard-workind dedication  in his speech in Amethi, where he promised that she will “work night and day” to transform the constituency. And yet an unworried Shukla told Indian Express. “Even while Smriti Irani was contesting the elections she was very co-operative and professional. We never had to cancel a day’s shooting because of her. Even now when she’s a minister she has made no re-adjustments in the dates. She joins us as per schedule," he said. While her work as a politician demands her to be in Delhi, her shoot is in Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh. So how does Mrs Irani plan to get time off for her filmi work? May be Modi has made exceptions for his ‘behen’ or may be she will borrow Hermione Granger’s time-turner so that she can be at two different places at the same time.