As the team of Jai Gangaajal visits The Pioneer office, Prakash Jha, the director and keen observer of politics, talks about his acting career and how he considers himself a junior actor on sets. He claims that it is only the media which enjoys freedom of expression and as a filmmaker, he is not responsible for the welfare of the country
He has been training actors for over 35 years now. Prakash Jha, a name not new to the film fraternity has not only mastered the art of direction from the time when he started but have also been contributing to writing scripts and operating camera, now and then. But, as it happens to most of us, there came a saturation point in his life, too, where he wanted to explore and venture into the field uncharted till now. And, that is when he was writing the character of BN Singh for Jai Gangaajal, he could not think of any other actor playing the character other than him.
As the team of Jai Gangaajal visited The Pioneer office, the director, after introducing his cast to us, sat casually and indulged on some samosas until someone asked him, “So you are an actor, nowIJ” To which he replied, “Yes, let me finish my samosa and gain some energy to answer the question.” He finished it and said, “I come from Bihar, where we manufacture IAS and IPS. I ran away from Delhi University thinking that if I complete my graduation then my parents will definitely make me an IAS or IPS. So, there has always been the curiosity to do something new and different. When I used to direct, I never only concentrated on that, I used to write and operate camera as well. But, for the last many years, I started to feel that I needed to do something new — it was like a saturation point.
Whenever you try something new, it is very important to perform. But, nothing like that came in my way until I started writing this character, BN Singh, a DSP. Whenever we hear of a character from the police force, a DSP never comes in front. We either hear of an inspector or IPS. But, the DSP has a supervisory role, and is a very important person because it is his duty to handle media, along with ministers andthana, constable and the common man. Plus he does all the paper work. I had narrowed down some people (DSPs) to talk about the role and amid the interactions, I started liking their characteristics and understood the nuances of the job. It was when I realised that I would be perfect for the character.”
As he completed elaborating on his acting career, Manav Kaul, the actor who is seen being hit severely by Priyanka Chopra in the trailer interrupted, “I would like you to introduce Prakash Jha, the actor to you. He is not Prakash Jha, the director of the film — he is the younger brother of Prakash Jha, BN Singh. As he has been directing many stars from 35 years, he knows the story in and out, this is the reason why he felt really close to the character and has done a brilliant job. Jha, as an actor is like a small kid.” Jha immediately added, “I am the junior actor. Priyanka Chopra always told me, ‘I know you are a big director but you are a junior actor to me.’ I did her charansparsh every day (laughs).”
As Jha has been training actors for over three decades now, he understands the technique carefully but does not mind learning from each of his actors. He confessed, “ I do understand the technique, and I have learnt from each one of my actors. I have seen Amitabh Bachchan preparing himself for my film, I have seen how he prepares. Once you decide to work, you have to be responsible and have to involve your own technique.”
Jha further clairifed that the movie is not the sequel to Gangaajal. Though the makers have kept the Gangaajal in the title, but the movie is an independent story and should not been seen in accordance to the previous movie. He explained the meaning of sequel and added, “It means a continuation of something, that is why I don’t call it a sequel. Neither the story nor the characters continue. We don’t even start the story from where we left. That was woven around Bhagalpur blindings, this one is woven around something even more darker.”
Is it woven around real situations, we askedIJ “Absolutely. I always work on real situations, real characters and within the realm of real perspective. My characters will speak very dramatic lines but they will not speak something unbelievable,” he replied.
But, as they say, you cannot be the jack of all trades. Jha, however, is a keen observant of politics but his career graph as a politician has not been very successful. He in fact, did not hesitate for a second to accept that he tried hard to get elected in Parliament but he wasn’t very inclined into politics. “If I try something, I will give it my best shot. I will definitely work as hard as possible. If I want to put myself as a candidate, I will do that in spite of the situation in 2014, where I did not want to contest elections. I kept telling Nitish Kumar that I have no interest in politics.
If you think that I tried very hard to get into politics then my intention was to get elected. Have you ever seen me endorsing any political ideologyIJ Have you ever seen me on any political platform or in any internal meeting of any political partyIJ I am politically very aware, I will not deny that. Genetically also, I am a Bihari so I have to be aware. But, I wanted the job of the parliament because you have access to immense resources and possibilities, and if you really work hard then you can bring really good things to your constituency. And nobody, even today, has built even a small school in my constituency. Nothing has been done so my intention was to improve the condition of the constituency. But, you can only enter the parliament through peoples’ votes. People did not send me because I cannot play that politics. Both the times, I fought against the correct, When I took Ram Vilas Paswan’s ticket, that was the time when BJP and Nitish Kumar were ruling (unki hawa chal rahi thi) so you can’t call it politics. When Modi was ruling, I took Nitish’s ticket so you can’t call that politics. I am not a political person in hard terms but I am extremely aware of the politics whatever happens in this country,” he elaborated.
He added that he is a filmmaker and he is not responsible for the welfare of this country. “I am as keen an observer as you are. Someone asked me, what do you have to say about what is happening in JNUIJ I said, ‘Can you certainly tell that these 10, 12 kids were the ones who said anti-national slogansIJ No, then why you want a quote from me on thatIJ’ In this country, there is only one community which enjoys freedom of expression, and that is the newspaper,” he wrapped up.
The movie releases on March 4.
photos Pankaj Kumar