‘I will not contest an election again. Even without being an MP,I do whatever I can’

Charmy Harikrishnan: How did your film aesthetics evolve with this underpinning of politics? Who are your influences?

My early movies were Damul and Parinati. I was one of the several filmmakers fresh out of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII). We were greatly influenced by Satyajit Ray,Ritwik Ghatak,Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Ketan Mehta,Saeed Mirza,Kundan Shah and I made films supported by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). We were not bothered about whether our films would see the light of day,often making films on shoestring budgets and recovering the costs through the sale of prints or 16 mm exhibitions or even telecast on TV.

When the economy opened up and we liberalised,there was a sense of cultural change. NFDC became completely non-functional; it couldn’t fund filmmakers any longer. The Mandal Commission and the opening of the market economy brought about major social changes in terms of relationships of the individual with society or of society with the nation. You see one pattern before the 1990s and a new pattern after the ’90s. Damul was made with Rs 12 lakh. In 1993,when I had written the script for Mrityudand,I found it would cost me Rs 80-90 lakh to make the same movie in the same pattern. And there was no way I could recover the costs until I released it in the cinemas and the distributors were willing to take it. So obviously one had to design or package a movie which would be bought by the distributors and which the audience would pay to see. I had to rework the entire script. I had Pallavi Joshi in mind when I first wrote Mrityudand. Then the cast changed and Madhuri Dixit played the role. Ironically,the day I went to narrate the story to her,she was shooting the song Choli ke peeche kya hai!

I went through a personal and creative crisis then: either I had to change my profession or I had to conform to the market. So I decided to have five-six songs in the film and have a cast of Madhuri Dixit,Om Puri,Shabana Azmi,etc. I had to rewrite each scene. So there is a script that was written for the kind of cinema that I used to do and then there is this script which I eventually did shoot. The film cost me Rs 1.25 crore. One had embraced the language of commercial cinema and the journey began. The aesthetics are,therefore,of two periods of my movie-making. I love Damul,Parinati and I am also proud of Rajneeti,Gangaajal.

Mihir Sharma: When Rajneeti was released,it was said that individual politicians were being depicted. Do you have to try too hard to ensure that your characters do not resemble actual people?

After all these years,I have realised that no matter what you do,people will conjure up similarities. I don’t bother about these things. When I made Gangaajal I had that character named Sadhu Yadav,honestly,the real Sadhu Yadav was not on my mind. Later on,people pointed it out to me but I left it at that. We have also learned that controversies are good for films. I shot the first scenes with Katrina Kaif for Rajneeti,we did not allow the media there. But they used their telescopic lenses and took pictures of Katrina and they were printed,8-9 months before the film released. Then the stories about Katrina and Sonia Gandhi wearing similar pattern of saris and waving out in a similar manner began. As a commercial filmmaker,I thought it was fantastic. The more I told the media there was no comparison,the more they kept at it. I knew there was absolutely no comparison.

Sweta Dutta: Your company has been setting up multiplexes in Bihar and Jharkhand. What is the status of those projects and what kind of problems have you faced?

I am working on setting up multiplexes in Bihar and Jharkhand because we don’t have any and none of the big chains want to invest in Bihar and Jharkhand. In Patna,we have just four cinemas but you can’t enter the premises because they stink. The whole of Patna is subjected to four awful cinemas—you needed good cinemas there. We had problems with the land. In this country,wherever there is land acquisition,you will have a problem with land,but it is all solved.

Sweta Dutta: Is the audience in Bihar willing to pay the multiplex rates that we pay in the big cities?

Rajneeti’s tickets for two weeks were sold in black for Rs 800 per seat in Patna. The Mona cinema in Patna charges Rs 120 for their tickets so people have paying power.

Ruchika Talwar: Are you concerned about earning the wrath of the politicians you represented in the movie,especially since you have been in politics?

One,I am not in politics. I contested the election because I thought I could do better in terms of development work. I have better experience,I have prospered as a businessman,I understand finance,I understand development,I understand growth,definitely better than the guy who won the seat from my constituency. I have never joined any political party,I have never endorsed any political ideology and I do not believe in political functioning. I work more as a businessman,more as an entrepreneur. I feel that I can share whatever experience I have because I have the capacity to do it. That is why I contested the elections,first as an independent and the second time on the ticket of Ram Vilas Paswan’s party but that was a wrong decision. I should have stood as an independent.

Ruchika Talwar: So you will not contest on his party’s ticket next time?

I will not contest an election ever again. The idea of becoming an MP was to have a position where I would have access to resources. Even without being an MP,I continue to do whatever I can. We are building a village in the Kosi flood area. During the floods,I set up a camp for 6,000 people and personally took care of them. We ran two hospitals in Champaran. We have set up a TV channel where 175 people are working in Patna—the Maurya channel which I own. It is a completely in-house production which runs from Patna. In the last six months that the channel has been running,we are either number one or number two in Bihar. I had decided that between the ages of 50 and 60—the ten years I thought would be my most productive years—I would be in public life. By the time the next elections come,I will be well past 60. I need space and time for myself.

Ruchika Talwar: Can Katrina Kaif speak Hindi?

She knows how to speak Hindi. She cannot speak it the way you or I can but she can read it. She is not fluent,she cannot converse but she has been improving. The entire dubbing of Rajneeti was done by her.

Shubhra Gupta: With Rajneeti,you’ve got both critical and popular acclaim. This is a combination which hasn’t happened with any of your previous films. How does it feel after so many years to reach where you have?

It feels good. I made Damul in 1985. That created a kind of wave and got me the National Award. I was immensely happy at that point of time. I did not have money but it did not matter,I could still do what I wanted to,which was to make another film,another film of a similar genre—Parinati.I was proud of that too. And the same is true today. The aesthetics of my films changed with Mrityudand.

Shubhra Gupta: What sort of change?

My style of making films and my coming to seek a place in commercial cinema and learn the language of commercial cinema as I did in Mrityudand,Gangaajal,Apaharan,Rajneeti.

Abhineet Mishra: All your movies so far reflect the darker aspects of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Is there a positive side to Bihar which you would want to highlight through your films?

It is not about the negativity. Bihar’s society is the most active society in social terms. It has given birth to the most important social movements this country has seen,whether it is the farmers’ movement,the people’s movement or the students’ movements. I have set my films in Bihar but the story of Gangaajal is not necessarily the story of only Bihar. Bihar is to India what India is to the rest of the world. Mark my words,wait for 15 years to see how Bihar will grow.

Irena Akbar: As a Bihari living in Mumbai and a filmmaker who makes movies on politics,what do you think of Raj Thackeray’s constant rant against North Indians,and Biharis living in Mumbai?

Let him play his politics. He doesn’t mean any harm,he just plays his politics.

Amrita Dutta: As an entrepreneur in Bihar,what kind of changes have you seen in the state under Nitish Kumar?

I think the most important change which has happened with Nitishji is that the faith has been restored. Faith in the system,faith in the law and order situation,faith in the government,faith in oneself. That is no small thing. The changes in Bihar may not be extremely visible but he has taken Bihar in one direction which I think is very positive. He has been able to increase public investment by creating better fiscal methods.

Raj Kamal Jha: There seem to be so many Prakash Jhas,the filmmaker,the businessman who talks land acquisition,building multiplexes,the aspiring politician. Which Prakash Jha are you most comfortable with? And what are you looking for in business and politics that you don’t get in your filmmaking?

Multitasking comes to me very easily. In my film production company,we are trying to distribute a film which has been produced by my assistant; we are trying to launch a new film which has been directed by another assistant. There are three TV serials which are going on air. The shooting for my next film Aarakshan has been scheduled for January. I delegate responsibility and there are certain areas where I can leave people to set it up. I have created a system which works very well. Then,there is the multiplex in Bihar,where I have to sit with the contractors. I have to give time to the 24-hour TV news channel too. Almost every month there is an invitation for a retrospective of my films. I am pretty happy doing many things at the same time primarily because I trust in people.

The thing I worry about these days is that we as a country are growing too fast and are not bothered about a very large segment of society not growing at all. My village still doesn’t have electricity. Our capital city,Delhi,has power cuts. We,as individuals,as corporates,entrepreneurs,are becoming more and more irresponsible towards the society we are living in. Unless we begin to share our knowledge,wealth and begin to think of inclusive growth,we are creating a very bad society.

Rahul Sharma: Do you think Indian cinema is doing its bit to sensitise people about such issues? And how many positive stories do you run on your TV news channel?

I don’t think Indian cinema is doing its bit. I don’t think it can because cinema is reflective of the society. A market will sell you a product that you will buy so you need to change the market,the mindset. I don’t run my channel,there is a team that does. But why are you afraid of negative stories? .

Georgina Maddox: You have chosen to cast Nikila Trikha as the mother in Rajneeti. She is a young actor. I was intrigued—what led you to do that?

Everybody is allowed to make a mistake. I can criticise my own film now since it has its own identity. I needed an actor who could play a younger and an older woman in the film. Most actors shy away from playing a mother’s roles. We auditioned a lot of people and we found her to be competent. But it just didn’t work.

ShubHra Gupta: How do you deal with criticism?

I am never afraid of negativity. If somebody has to say something about my shirt or my scarf,it is their point of view,what is wrong with it? Assimilating others points of view is fine.

Dipankar Ghose: You have predicted that Bihar will grow in the next 15 years. Is the growth incumbent on the Nitish Kumar government being in power?

The process which has started in Bihar right now it is not something which has entirely been brought about by Nitish Kumar. He has become a kind of catalyst. It is the will of the people. An irreversible process has been set into force and I think it is very difficult for things to go into reverse gear.

Transcribed by Debesh Banerjee