Prakash Jha : Deepti Naval and I never cherished any negativity between us
Second part of the interview of Director Prakash Jha(PJ), taken by Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.
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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Prakash Jha, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: You still make documentaries but if we talk about feature films then how this journey was started and why and when did you think that you should make feature films?
PJ: I was thinking about making feature films also. I had written scripts for the two stories of Shaival, Kalchakra and Daamul. I was searching producers for Daamul. Man Mohan Shetty had become my friend by then. He said that we should make it but to make a balance I should think about a commercial film also. While drinking tea, I told him about a story, based in the campus of a school. So idea to make Hip Hip Hurray was born there. Gulzar Saab wrote the script for that. We had planned to make both the films, Daamul and Hip Hip Hurray, simultaneously. We had chosen Bihar as the location for the shooting of both the films. We got tired while making Hip Hip Hurray so we decided to edit and release it first and so Daamul got a delay of 6 months. In the mean time we had submitted script of Daamul in NFDC. We got a green signal from there. So Hip Hip Hurray became my first feature film and Daamul became second though Daamul was planned before HHH.
AB: Daamul received a national award and brought you the recognition. You entered in to a group of directors who were said to be as flag bearers of parallel cinema.
PJ: I can not see my recognition in such an easy way. Daamul became possible because basically I belong to a village and I can understand the social system and politics prevailing in the villages. To cut the story short, I made Pareenati in 1987, it was based on the story of Vijaydan Detha. I did a lot of work. I made 13 films for the series called “Classical dances from India”. In the mean time I got married. Personal life remained bit disturbed. By the year 1988 I had started feeling a necessity to revive myself. I thought to go back to village. I packed everything and went back to Patna in 1989. I lived 4 years in Bihar. I got associated with 2-3 organisations. Impacts of Mandal commission, Laloo Raj and open market economy were becoming visible.
AB: Whatelse you did in Bihar during those days. I have got to know that your involvement in social and cultural activities had increased and many young people of Bihar had got associated with you.
PJ: I had established an organisation called “Anubhooti”. Through that organisation, I trained a lot of young people. Many of assistants and cameramen can be found in the industry. I invited Satish Bahadur from FTII to conduct a course in FILM Appreciation. I paid attention to the education of Cinema also. I remained in touch with the writers like Shaival, Sanjeev and Vijaykant.
I opened another organisation “Samvedan” in Champaran and motivated people to open small and micro industries. But after spending 4-5 years in Bihar I again started feeling a kind of saturation. There was a turn in my thinking. I had finished all my collected money. Second problem was that I had adopted a daughter and she had turned 4-5 by that time. My mother died in 1993 and after her death my small family was scattered. How she was keeping all of us united. I had not thought about this before when she was alive. My father became very sad and went back to live in the village and I came to Mumbai taking along my daughter Disha.
AB: Your second inning in the films starts from 1993 when you made films like Bandish and Mrityudand. You might have felt a lot of difficulties in starting everything again from the scratch?
PJ: I came to Mumbai and my 5 years old daughter was with me. I had no home here. For few months we stayed in a hotel at Juhu. I had written the story of Mrityudand. I thought to make a film on it and submitted the script in NFDC. I felt that there was a huge change in the industry. Earlier a film could be made in 10-12 Lacs only and now people were telling me that nothing could be done in an amount less than 70-80 Lacs. I talked to Man Mohan Shetty and he said that I have to make the film myself and let us see what arrangements can be done?
He had a house in Andheri and I shifted there. I admitted Disha in a boarding school of Panchgani. I started weaving my life again by collecting straws.AB: Did you meet Deepti Naval after coming back to Mumbai?
PJ: We always maintained communication. We used to talk to each other. We had not quarrelled. We never cherished any negative feeling between us. Yes there was little tension in the beginning. When I came here, she helped me in taking care of Disha. In the mean time she had been in a relationship with Vinod Pandit and they had started living together. We were always on talking terms and used to meet also.
AB: But after coming back you made Bandish first, in which Jacky Shroff and Juhi Chawala had acted? No?
PJ: Javed Siddiqui, Robin Bhatt and Surjit Sen used to write scripts as a team. Somebody introduced me to them. Jacky Shroff came in the film so we got a financier also. All people thought to make a commercial film. I started working in that kind of set up and started knowing people of that circle also. Through that film I got an understanding that how commercial films are made and how they work. I felt that commercial factor was pressurising the film industry. Luckily work was started on Mrityudand also during the making of Bandish only. I had developed an understanding that I would have to take a popular actress in my film. Without her film would not become impressive and perhaps would not get success also.
AB: How you convinced Madhuri Dixit for Mrityudand? She was the actress doing completely commercial films and she was quite popular also at that time. Did she easily say yes to Mrityudand?
PJ: During those days I had met Subhash Ghai 2-3 times. He asked me what I was doing? I told him about my planning about Mrityudand. He called me at his home and listened the story of Mrityudand. He was very impressed by the story and he asked me which actress I had in my mind for my film. I took the name of Madhuri Dixit. Subhash Ghai dialled the phone number of Madhuri Dixit and fixed a meeting between us. He said,” Give a narration to Madhuri and she will decide whether to work in your film or not”.
To meet Madhuri, I went to the sets of Khalnayak in Filmistan Studio and shooting for the song song “Choli Ke peeche” was going on there. I met Madhuri in the makeup room. She started listening my narration in between the shots. After some time she was hooked to the story. I observed that she had liked something and she stopped the shooting for sometime and she listened my story uninterrupted for the next 45 minutes. Till then I had no expectation that she would be agree to do my film. I thought that Choli Ke peeche and my film were two entirely different paradigms. But she said yes as soon as I was finished with my narration. Later Shabana Azmi and other actors came in the film. Mayawal saab joined us and gave us finance. My unit was established again during the making of that film. People united again and a system was established and we stood on our feet again. Film got success also. Though we did not earn much profit but we earned a standing through Mrityudand. I also developed an understanding that which kind of films I have to make. Everybody knows the later story.
AB: Who were the contemporary active directors when you made Hip Hip Hurray and Daamul and with whom you used to meet regularly?
PJ: Both the films were shot in Bihar. I knew very few people in Mumbai. There were people from FTII. I used to meet Kundan Shah and Ketan Mehta etc. I was not familiar with the commercial sector of hindi film world. I never felt to enter in to that section. When I got national award for Daamul then people used to discuss me. At that time I could not understand the importance of a National award. We used to believe that we belonged to a different class of filmmakers. These days everything has been mixed up. Commercial films also get National awards now.
AB: Your initial two films Hip Hip Hurray and Daamul belonged to two different natures. It seems that later you did not keep a strong hold on the style you used in Hip Hip Hurray.
PJ: I was not interested in that. HHH was made as a game. We can say it was made while cutting jokes and laughing and drinking tea. It was made lightly.
First part of the interview can be read here Prakash Jha : Hrishikesh Mukharjee cried after watching my film.
Third part of the interview can be read here Prakash Jha : Politically I am not biased & all filmwalla people are not perverted
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
kehdo ek bar sajna of mrityudand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIcUGndkOT0
raat mehke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_r7SegTEYQ
tum bin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr079uembyU
hip hip hurra… i ve heard abt this film…
how it can b seen?
i ve searched a lot on u tube also but not even a single clip is there 2 know abt film…
ve seen mrityudand…gangajal…nd apharan…
i like apharan in all the 3 films i ve seen…
wht damul is all abt?
didnt know prakash jha nd dipti naval r married…
thought she was married 2 a bearded man .. who was there with her in a tv serial…
mere khyal mein PFC ke saare exclusive members apne initial steps ke baare mein likhen to naye aspirant directors ko kafi madad milegi.agar koi likhne mein sankoch kar raha ho to main baatcheet karne ke liye taiyar hoon.
anurag ka maine detail interview kiya hai…use jaldi hi PFC par laane ki koshish hogi.
iske alawa main PFC readers ki pratikriya aur sujhav bhi chahta hoon.
aap ki salahon aur sujhaon ka mutazir… brahmatmaj@gmail.com
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Ajay
Thanks for sharing this interview with PFC. It was very nostalgic & emotional to read for me.
Hey Bhaiya,
I hav read this interview.it was very emotional n inspiring 4 me. U r my Ideal.
hi prakashji, i read your interview, u r such a inspiration for those people who realy want to achieve his goal in this film industry.Also your strugle for your life n for the industry is very dramatic and emotional. i just pray to GOD that what u want u achieve…good luck for your next venture RAJNEETI AND for the election IN champaran dist.(BIHAR)… HAV A GREAT FUTURE N LIFE …