My films are not essentially political. Even my political characters have manifested comedy in them, Prakash Jha tells Ananya Borgohain
Prakash Jha’s body of work - Mrityudand, Gangaajal, Apaharan, Raajneeti, Aarakshan, Satyagraha et al, as well as his National Award winning documentaries such as Faces After the Storm and Sonal - has consistently been perceived as socio-political, although the filmmaker says that he wouldn’t want his films to be contained within just one genre. All set to speak at the Great Indian Film and literature Festival (GIFlIF) 2016, Jha talks about why society is stronger than the Government, how he enjoys comedies and the state of demonetisation in the country today.
What is your session at GIFlIF aboutIJ
My session titled, ‘Painting the big 70mm canvas’ is a discussion with Subhash Ghai. It will be an interaction about our experiences in filmmaking and how literature has played a pivotal role in implementing and creating good cinema.
This festival loves the language of cinema and keeps doing things that encourage the same. It’s a unique festival where literature and films merge. I think it’s a novel idea. We make films, we think of cinema all the time and this is our life. So if there are more people who think on the same lines and are trying to perpetuate, that’s a good endeavour, I would say.
What do you like to read or write aboutIJ
Anything that I can lay my hands on.
Why do you make films that are essentially politicalIJ
I don’t know why you would label me as political because I can enjoy a comedy and consider making films of different genres.
But you did recently comment that political cinema has no space in the country and your body of work has largely been political.
You may have read the recent reports. Actually, what I had really said was that our society is stronger than our Government - historically, mythologically, even politically. Their dissent is much weightier than the Government’s. There is no real freedom in the sense that you cannot talk about just one political ideology or party because that might lead to a stronger agitation. That’s what I had said.
You have also supported the Government’s move of demonetising the countryIJ
I think the intention of strengthening society financially and curbing black money is a correct objective. I don’t doubt the purpose but people are complaining that the implementation has been executed very disappointingly. There will be myriad opinions about this but let us not question the intent behind this.
Going back to what you said before, would you like to make a comedy soonIJ
In my films too, even the deeply political characters have shades of comedy in them. Politics is an art of manipulation. Rajneeti ki pehli neeti yeh hai ki usme koi neeti nahi hai. They say that even democracy started because it is easy to fool the masses. So I think my characters in Apaharan, Gangajal, and so on were hugely comical too. They do such hilarious things with such conviction that you would be surprised about the lack of logic therein.
But beyond the politics of it, I am more interested in what happens around us and the stories and incidents emerging from those situations.
Ab digital zamana hai, so we are also developing a few shows for TV and the Web too. I did find Houseful very amusing and I think Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne was delightful too.
How does the director in you help the person in youIJ
It would actually be the other way around, noIJ How you have developed as a human being reflects in your work.
In what you write, how you understand your characters, how you treat your female characters, how you enact, are all attributes that the person in you bring out for the director in you.