Filmmaker Prakash Jha at a media interaction for his upcoming film Aarakshan at a city hotel on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 27: Eminent film director Prakash Jha will portray the transformation Bihar has undergone in the past five years on the silver screen.

Jha, who hails from Bihar, today announced this at the promotion of his upcoming film Aarakshan (reservation) in Patna, which will release on August 12.

During the previous meeting with The Telegraph, Jha had said that he was not getting relevant topics such as his earlier films Gangaajal and Apaharan and he was so much impressed by the state that he was forced to direct a film on the changing image of Bihar.

“I have made films on different issues, based on society and ground realities. But now I am thinking to direct film on the changing image of Bihar which is very evident to me as a Bihari.”

On plans to direct any film on the issue of the ongoing protest against corruption and black money, Jha said: “Yes, I will surely direct that film also as it has become the eye of the storm these days and is extremely related to the masses. Such kind of topics are always close to my heart and I would love to make a film on the issue of corruption and black money.”

Talking about his upcoming film Aarakshan starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Prateik Babbar and Manoj Bajpai, he said the movie was all about the education system in India which forces students to take stern move against the system.

“The topic of reservation is very old and dates back to pre-Independence days. Now, this topic has become the truth of the society. The way education is taking its shape is very dangerous and it has taken to commercialisation. Now, good education can be afforded only by people who have money. People just focus on engineering, medical and other courses but nobody takes up subjects which are close to the society,” said Jha.

He added: “Thousands of private institutes are coming up. According to a recent Mumbai act, anybody can open an university if he has Rs 10 crore and also students who want to study at the institution. So just imagine what would be the status of education in this country.”

Taking about the script of the film, Jha said: “It is a simple film which talks about the pain of the suppressed students. If any- body asks me that whether I support this stand, I can- not say anything on it. It’s the truth and we have to accept it and it will always exist. I have just tried to explain the whole issue of reservation, its repercussions and the agitation.”

When asked about his decision of not taking Ajay Devgn whom he usually casts in his films, Jha said: “Does Ajay Devgn work with the same director?”

He also denied having any altercation with Ajay Devgn during the shoots of his last film Raajneeti in Bhopal and later on.

It was believed to be the reason for Jha’s decision of not signing Ajay Devgn for Aarakshan.

“No we didn’t have any verbal fight on the set of Raajneeti but if you insist then may be, “ laughs Jha.

Asking about calling Amitabh Bachchan to Patna during the release of the film, Jha said: “I will try to call him, let’s see as Abhishek has already visited the city.” Jha said the day the news of Aishwarya expecting broke out, he called Amitabh at night to wish him.

Talking about the controversy of the film on casting, Jha said: “Some people had objected to my decision of casting Saif Ali Khan as a Dalit youth in the film despite being a nawab in reality. I told them that they are doing the same thing what I am trying to show in the film. Then the matter was settled.”