Shekhar Gupta,Editor-in-Chief,The Indian Express on Aarakshan being chosen for the Ramnath Goenka Award Ramnath Goenka Award goes to Aarakshan for its courage to engage with caste at a time when popular culture either runs away from it or denies its existence. Casting Saif Ali Khan as the Dalit hero,Prakash Jha has filled a glaring void with honesty and directness. Reservation has been a polarising political debate thats been with us since the late 1980s but it took over 20 years for it to enter mainstream cinema. Getting the Ramnath Goenka Award is a matter of pride, specially for a film like Aarakshan that is based on the education system in the country Prakash Jha, co-producer and director,Aarakshan Writer-director and producer Prakash Jha is known for his hard-hitting socio-political films. Whether its Damul that dealt with the issue of bonded labour,Gangaajal that was based on the Bhagalpur blinding incidents,Apaharan set in the backdrop of the kidnappings in the eastern state of Bihar or Mrityudand that depicted the gender bias to the latest Aarakshan,based on system of reservation,Jha has been tackling various social issues through his films. His films act as a commentary on the prevailing systems good,bad or ugly in the society. Realistic as well as entertaining,Jhas films have struck a fine balance between the art and commercial cinema. The enterprising director also ventured into television in the mid-90s to make some memorable serials including Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne. A couple of years ago,he launched his own channel Maurya TV. Jha is also the maker of National Film Award winning documentaries like Faces After The Storm (1984) and Sonal (2002). In his 35 year career,the writer-director has collected many awards including the Screen Best Screenplay awards for Apaharan and Raajneeti,which was a modern-day adaptation of Mahabharat. His latest film Aarakshan based on the policy of reservation and commercialisation of education had Amitabh Bachchan as the upper-caste,idealistic principal of a college and Saif Ali Khan as a Dalit lecturer. An inspiring and thought-provoking film,Aarakshan was aptly chosen for the Ramnath Goenka Award. Text by:Chaya Unnikrishnan,Geety Sahgal,Rajiv Vijayakar,Namita Nivas,Priyanko Sarkar,Anita Aikara and Onkar Kulkarni
