Renowned director-producer Prakash Jha has raised his voice against 'top, legendary actors' selling gutkha (tobacco) and not wanting to work in his films.
In a recent interview, Jha responded to his previous remark of struggling to cast stars and said that he hasn’t made a film with ‘a big star in a while.’ In a rather stirring statement, he also maintained that when stars will take out time from selling tobaccos and focus more on content, they will ‘come to me automatically’. ALSO READ | Prakash Jha Breaks Silence On Accusations 'Aashram 3' Defames Hinduism: ‘Aadmi Dharm Ko Nahi Bachaa Sakta’
While having been asked if he has thought that actors don’t own up to their films, the filmmaker opined that they don’t have time as an actor who had 'five flops, is shooting for 12 ad films' and getting ' ₹10 crores for each of them'.
Prakash Jha has also said that his 'whole focus is on content creation'.
In a recent interview with Times of India, Prakash said, "There are 5-6 actors. Look at the condition of these actors. Why will they work in my films when they get ₹50 crores for doing one gutkha advertisement? The actors are selling gutkha. Can you imagine? What are these top, legendary actors doing? We had gone to a school for location scouting. The principal of the school asked me what are you guys doing in the Mumbai film industry? The boys in our school are caught chewing gutkha. Roam around the north through Lucknow, Prayagraj and Mugalsarai, there are big hoardings put up where all our big stars are selling all types of gutkhas (tobaccos) and paan masalas."
Jha also got candid about the ‘star system’ and said, "What do we do about the system? Unless and until we don’t correct our filmmaking process. The filmmaking process doesn’t start with money, it starts with the subject. It starts with the passion of making cinema. It can’t start with the 500-crore funding that you have got, so you can make anything. That’s what is happening...I have not sat idle even for a day. I have been producing content constantly. I haven’t made a film with a big star in a while, but I have made other stuff. That's fine, I’m happy about it. When stars take time out from selling gutkhas and want to focus on content, they will come to me automatically."
For the unversed, Prakash Jha is popularly known for his film like Parinati (1989), Mrityudand (1997), Dil Kya Kare (1999), Gangaajal (2003), Apaharan (2005), Raajneeti (2010), Aarakshan (2011), Pareeksha and Saand Ki Aankh (2019).
He has also been associated with web-series ‘Aashram’, which stars Bobby Deol, Aaditi Pohankar, Darshan Kumar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tushar Pandey, Anupriya Goenka, Adhyayan Suman, and Vikram Kochhar among others. ALSO READ | Prakash Jha Says He Is ‘DISGUSTED’ By Actors Working In India, Reveals The Difference Between Hollywood And Bollywood Actors
The first season of Bobby Deol starrer Aashram streamed on MX Player in August 2020 and the second season on the OTT platform in November 2020.
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