# Modi: Journey of a Common Man
**Modi: Journey of a Common Man** is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language biographical web series on Eros Now that dramatizes the life of [Narendra Modi](https://www.edgepedia.org/narendra-modi), from his childhood and years as a railway-station tea seller through the Emergency, his rise in the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh](https://www.edgepedia.org/rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh) (RSS) and the [Bharatiya Janata Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/bharatiya-janata-party) (BJP), his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, and his becoming Prime Minister of India in 2014.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) • [2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/amp_seriesreview/79013193.cms) Directed by Umesh Shukla, the series was planned as ten episodes and was released in two seasons, with three actors portraying Modi at different ages.[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform and format | Eros Now original web series; drama, history, biopic genres; average runtime about 40 minutes[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) |
| Seasons | Season 1 with 7 episodes (April–May 2019); Season 2, subtitled CM to PM, with 3 episodes[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) |
| Director and writers | Umesh Shukla directed; Mihir Bhuta and Radhika Anand wrote; music by Salim Sulaiman[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) • [4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkTYeDEmEM) |
| Lead cast | Faisal Khan as teenage Modi, Ashish Sharma as adult Modi, Mahesh Thakur as Modi at his current age[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) |
| Source book | Adapted from Kishor Makwana's *Common Man's PM – Narendra Modi*[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) |
| Election-period suspension | The first five episodes, released April 3, 2019, were pulled by the Election Commission for violating the Model Code of Conduct and re-released on May 21, 2019[5](https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/hindi/2019/May/22/with-elections-over-modi-web-series-back-online-1980595.html) |
| Critical reception | IMDb user rating 4.4; Times of India critic ratings of 3.0 for Season 1 and 2.5 for Season 2[6](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) • [2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/amp_seriesreview/79013193.cms) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and structure
The series follows Modi across parallel timelines in its early episodes. The first episode, "Pratiksha Nahin Prayaas," is set in 1975, when the Indian government declared a state of Emergency, and shows citizens coping with the fallout, one of them being Narendra Modi. Later episodes move between the schoolboy Narendra of the early 1960s and the adult party worker: episode 6, "Vyakti Nahin Samaaj," depicts a 1967 journey to [Kedarnath](https://www.edgepedia.org/kedarnath), where the sadhus are shown mired in drugs and fraud, and a visit to the Ramakrishna Math in Calcutta, where Swami Vishveshwaranand advises him to return home to unravel the journey of his soul. Episode 7, "Samasya Nahin Avsar," shows 1985, when Balasaheb Deoras orders the 35-year-old Modi to join the BJP, alongside a 1962 childhood story in which Narendra and his friends raise funds to build a wall around a playground after a child is bitten by a dog.[7](https://erosnow.com/original/watch/1066163/modi-journey-of-a-common-man)
The trailer and synopsis frame the arc as Modi's journey from chaiwala (tea seller) at a railway station, through a quest to become a sanyasi that the Emergency interrupts, to his handling of the Godhra riots as Gujarat Chief Minister and finally to the BJP campaign that made him Prime Minister.[8](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/hot-on-web/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-eros-now-webseries-trailer-release)
### Season 2: CM to PM
The three-episode second season, promoted as *Modi Season 2: CM to PM*, has Mahesh Thakur in the titular role and covers Modi's time as Gujarat Chief Minister and his path to the prime ministership.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) • [17](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/umesh-shukla-working-on-modi-season-2-cm-to-pm-changed-me-as-a-person-7047760/) Shukla said some post-production work remained on the final episodes and described the period as a very important part of Modi's life.[17](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/umesh-shukla-working-on-modi-season-2-cm-to-pm-changed-me-as-a-person-7047760/)
## Production
Director Umesh Shukla, whose films include *OMG: Oh My God!* and *102 Not Out*, said the project began about a year before release when he read Kishor Makwana's book *Common Man's PM – Narendra Modi*, and that he had initially planned a feature film but decided a web series could do justice to the amount of material.[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) • [9](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/television-news/article/umesh-shukla-on-pm-narendra-modi-web-show-unafraid-to-show-reality-411266) He described the series as "an honest attempt at showing the human side of the Prime Minister" and said the team added no extra story beyond the book.[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) For research, he said the team interviewed Modi's family, visited his school, and spoke to around 80 to 90 people.[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/)
**Three actors, one role.** Shukla said the team chose three actors rather than prosthetics because they did not want to employ gimmicks or tamper with originality, feeling it natural to cast three actors for the three stages of life.[3](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/) Mahesh Thakur, who plays the present-day Modi, said the series depicted only real-life events from Modi's life.[10](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-actor-mahesh-thakur-5657973/) The supporting cast includes [Darshan Jariwala](https://www.edgepedia.org/darshan-jariwala) as Modi's father, Prachee Shah Paandya as his mother, and Makrand Deshpande.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man) • [4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkTYeDEmEM)
## Release and the Election Commission order
The trailer was released on March 26, 2019, and the series was scheduled to stream from April, the same month the 2019 [Lok Sabha](https://www.edgepedia.org/lok-sabha) elections began.[8](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/hot-on-web/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-eros-now-webseries-trailer-release) The first five episodes went online on April 3, 2019. During the polling period, the Election Commission asked the producers to stop streaming and remove all content related to the series until further orders, and to file a compliance report, citing the [Model Code of Conduct](https://www.edgepedia.org/model-code-of-conduct).[11](https://www.alphacorp.in/images/media/press-coverage/Gurugram-2019-04-21.pdf) After polling ended, the first five episodes were re-released on Eros Now on May 21, 2019, with episodes 6 and 7 slated for May 23 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati. The [Vivek Oberoi](https://www.edgepedia.org/vivek-oberoi) feature film *PM Narendra Modi* was stalled for the same reason and released on May 24.[5](https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/hindi/2019/May/22/with-elections-over-modi-web-series-back-online-1980595.html)
## Reception
Critical response was largely negative. [The Indian Express](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-indian-express)'s first impression described the show as a "hybrid of fact and fiction" that becomes hero worship from the start, with every scene serving to highlight one quality of Modi, and called it a piece of propaganda released just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that also failed to qualify as entertaining.[12](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-first-impression-review-eros-now-5656822/) Rediff's review called the content "as hagiographic as it can get" and noted that some stories shown in the series are described as apocryphal even by Andy Marino, author of a friendly political biography of Modi.[13](https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/now-a-web-series-to-spread-the-legend-of-modi-journey-of-a-common-man/20190408.htm) The New Indian Express took a milder line, judging that the series idolizes Modi without becoming propagandist.[14](https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/entertainment/review/2019/Apr/07/modi---journey-of-a-common-man-review-the-web-series-idolises-him-doesnt-get-propagandist-1961418.html)
The Times of India gave Season 1 a critic rating of 3.0, saying the series abides by Makwana's book and maintains the mainstream narrative of Modi's humble beginnings, and Season 2 a 2.5, calling the CM-to-PM journey "more dramatic, less factual" while noting the series attempts to recreate Modi's emotions during events such as the Bhuj earthquake and the Godhra riots.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/amp_seriesreview/79013193.cms) • [15](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/season-2/seasonreview/79014266.cms) On IMDb the series holds a user rating of 4.4.[6](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/modi-journey-of-a-common-man)
A 2024 academic article in *Public Humanities* placed the series within a broader pattern, describing it as one of the streaming productions that "stretched this hagiographic impulse across two seasons and multiple episodes" in the construction of Modi's political image.[16](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-humanities/article/from-mangoes-to-missile-strikes-cinema-and-the-political-aesthetics-of-modis-india/14E316325B9F341811A34F67C3BA67DD)
## References
1. [Modi: Journey of A Common Man, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man)
2. [Modi – Journey Of A Common Man review, Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/amp_seriesreview/79013193.cms)
3. [Modi: Journey of a Common Man director Umesh Shukla interview, The Indian Express (April 6, 2019)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-director-umesh-shukla-narendra-modi-5661582/)
4. [Modi – Journey Of A Common Man official trailer, Eros Now on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VkTYeDEmEM)
5. [With elections over, Modi web-series back online, The New Indian Express (May 23, 2019)](https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/hindi/2019/May/22/with-elections-over-modi-web-series-back-online-1980595.html)
6. [Modi: Journey of A Common Man streaming page, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/in/tv-show/modi-journey-of-a-common-man)
7. [Watch Modi – Journey Of A Common Man, Eros Now](https://erosnow.com/original/watch/1066163/modi-journey-of-a-common-man)
8. [From Chaiwala to PM: Eros Now's Modi Web Series Trailer is Out, The Quint (March 26, 2019)](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/hot-on-web/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-eros-now-webseries-trailer-release)
9. [Umesh Shukla on Narendra Modi web show: Unafraid to show reality, Mid-Day (March 14, 2019)](https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/television-news/article/umesh-shukla-on-pm-narendra-modi-web-show-unafraid-to-show-reality-411266)
10. [Mahesh Thakur interview, The Indian Express (April 4, 2019)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-actor-mahesh-thakur-5657973/)
11. [Election Commission order coverage, Gurugram press clippings (April 21, 2019)](https://www.alphacorp.in/images/media/press-coverage/Gurugram-2019-04-21.pdf)
12. [Modi – Journey of a Common Man first impression, The Indian Express (April 3, 2019)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/modi-journey-of-a-common-man-first-impression-review-eros-now-5656822/)
13. [Now, a web series to spread the legend of Modi, Rediff.com (April 8, 2019)](https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/now-a-web-series-to-spread-the-legend-of-modi-journey-of-a-common-man/20190408.htm)
14. [Modi – Journey Of A Common Man review, The New Indian Express (April 7, 2019)](https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/entertainment/review/2019/Apr/07/modi---journey-of-a-common-man-review-the-web-series-idolises-him-doesnt-get-propagandist-1961418.html)
15. [Modi – Journey Of A Common Man Season 2 review, Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/web-series/reviews/hindi/modi-journey-of-a-common-man/season-2/seasonreview/79014266.cms)
16. [From Mangoes to Missile Strikes: Cinema and the Political Aesthetics of Modi's India, Public Humanities (Cambridge Core)](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-humanities/article/from-mangoes-to-missile-strikes-cinema-and-the-political-aesthetics-of-modis-india/14E316325B9F341811A34F67C3BA67DD)
17. [Working on Modi Season 2 – CM to PM changed me as a person: Umesh Shukla, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/web-series/umesh-shukla-working-on-modi-season-2-cm-to-pm-changed-me-as-a-person-7047760/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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