Jha refuses to organise a special screening of Aarakshan for NSCS

At a promotional event for his to-be-released Aarakshan,Prakash Jha made it clear that he was not going to have any...

At a promotional event for his to-be-released Aarakshan,Prakash Jha made it clear that he was not going to have any special screening for the National Commission Of Schedule Castes (NSCS),which has demanded a preview before its release on August 12 to make sure that the film which is based on caste-based reservation in colleges did not show them in a poor light.

I am not required to respond to any board that wants to sit in judgment over my film. If the film censor board wants,they can invite a person from the Commission. As a filmmaker who has been making films for about 30 years,I am well aware of the procedure I have to follow to get the clearances for the release of the film and I will be following due procedure, Jha said,adding that his film did not support or contradict any policies but was a contemporary social drama.

Amitabh Bachchan,who plays an idealistic and erudite principal of a private institution in the film,was also part of the promotion. Talking about the subject,he said that he never understood the caste system as he never faced any bias because of his caste,and was proud of the fact that his father gave him a surname that didnt denote any such thing. My father was the first Kayasth to marry a Sikh woman and he gave his pen-name Bachchan to us as a surname. If ever I have faced a rejection or a failure,it has been on the basis of my incapability to do something,and never my caste, said the actor,saying that reading the narrative and acting in the film actually opened his eyes to the caste system.

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Manoj Bajpayee,who makes education a money-making system in the film,said that his understanding of the caste system was also vague. The contents of the film could be part of a debate and used as an effective tool to bring about a change in society, he said.

So did they think that the film would bring about a change in the society? The only time I remember a film bringing about any change was a foreign film (I dont remember the name) about something going wrong in a nuclear reactor and subsequently countries taking more precautions. Otherwise I think everything in a film is in a capsule and can only be used as a pointer, said Bachchan.