Sunday, September 7, 2003		In The Spotlight

“Socio-political films are my forte”

Award-winning filmmaker Prakash Jha has made a comeback with Gangaajal. The film explores the Bhagalpur blindings of the late ‘70s. Meanwhile, Jha has drawn flak as chairman of the National Awards jury in view of his film’s protagonist Ajay Devgan winning the best actor award for The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Shoma A. Chatterji reports.

PRAKASH Jha shot into fame with Damul that exposed the corruption in panchayat elections and won the Best Film Award. Then followed Parinati, based on a Rajasthani folk tale. He switched channels with Hip Hip Hurray, a delightful film dealing with teenage angst against the backdrop of school sports. He disappeared for some time, only to surface with Mrityudand, a rural-backdrop film with a strong feminist statement. His forays into commercial stuff like Dil Kya Kare, however, fell flat at the box office.

Unfazed by failure, Jha is excited about Gangaajal, his latest film, made on a budget of Rs 9 crore. The film explores the Bhagalpur blindings of the late ‘70s in which 32 persons were blinded.

What inspired you to choose the subject of Gangaajal?

Have you ever been told by the police that transfers and postings of some specially favoured police officers are actually financed by businessmen at the local level and by corporate bodies at the larger level? We’ve actually discovered incredibly bizarre incidents like policemen killing their own colleagues. Such incidents are getting repetitive. We felt the sudden need to understand the forces that are supposed to protect our society. Gangaajal gets into the inner dynamics of this entire process of corruption. I think my forte lies in making socio-political films. I usually look for subjects that a common man can identify with. I must stress that Gangaajal is not an art film or offbeat film.

Yes, this film shares the same backdrop. But the similarity ends there. Gangaajal questions the system of policing. Basically, the film is about the relationship that society has with its police.

You see, when you call a film a cop story or police-corruption film you are generalising the script. One cop story can be diametrically opposite from the other. Do you find Zanzeer and Ardh Satya similar? Gangaajal is a dramatic journey of an individual into the collective consciousness of the society. It eventually becomes an intense meditation on the mechanics of crime and punishment. Set in the small town by the Ganga river, the film goes beyond the issue of cleansing the system.

I disagree. In fact, there are several films that are song-less. Gangaajal had no scope for songs. However, we have tried to experiment with a background score. The emphasis is on music that’s intense and dark on the one hand, and spiritual on the other hand. Wayne Sharpe from New York worked closely with Sandesh Shandilya, creating a blend of western and Indian sounds. A nautanki song was composed by Sandesh and sung by Richa Sharma. For the main theme we have used American singer Nikki Gregoroff.

Ajay's silences are brilliant and meaningful. He is the only actor who could express the dilemma of the character intensely.

I will repeat what I have said before. I did not vote in any of the categories. The rules prevent people from participating if they have a stake in any of the entries. I was invited. The rules— which are very specific—permitted it and so I accepted the job. Professionally, if I shouldn’t have, I wouldn’t have. Can I really bend the rules? At this rate, a jury member would have to declare his friends as well, and nobody would be able to be on the jury. I refuse any further comment on this matter.

The film is stark and deals with real issues. Water has been used to signify purity and the protagonist's journey to sanitise the impurity. The colours that we have tried to play with are shades of blue and grey to depict the symbolism.

Your cast is drawn from different walks of life. What strategies did you use in directing them?

It is an ancient tradition in theatre to have a chorus and use it as a dramatic device. I’m doing the same by having lots of well-etched characters. TWF