Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 13, 2004
Even as the nation observed Jai
Prakash Narayan's birth anniversary on Sunday, Doordarshan chose to air
the' 70s blockbuster Mehbooba on prime time instead of a bioepic on the
leader-Lok Nayak Jai Prakash by noted filmmaker Prakash Jha.
The film deals with JP and the Emergency.
"We have problems with the film. It cannot be aired in its present form,"
said K S Sarma, CEO of Prasar Bharati Corporation.
Noting that the "film was commissioned
by the Ministry of Culture for Rs 90 lakh", Sarma said Jaipal Reddy, the
Minister of Culture as well as Information and Broadcasting, had been informed
too.
According to Sarma, Jha has been
informed of the changes-12 in all-that need to be made in the film. The
government reportedly wants the parts on JP's stay in jail and his subsequent
release to be pruned.
However, the filmmaker claimed that
he had not received any formal communication from Prasar Bharati. "All
I have been told is that the film needs to be shortened a bit," said Jha.
While maintaining that his film
does not criticise the Congress, Jha added that it does deal with the Emergency
as part of JP's life. "That is a factual position and has been dealt with
accordingly," he said. Sources said the segments related to the Emergency
are being reviewed. Stating that the Ministry of Culture had commissioned
him to make the film about a year back, Jha said: "It was meant to be telecast
last year but I could not finish the film as I had to complete some other
project."
While Jha finally submitted the
film on March 31 this year, he said he was not aware of its telecast schedule.
The two hour bio-epic was meant to be a 13-episode serial, but later became
a film.
Expectedly, there has been some
backlash from political circles, some from within the UPA itself. "A great
leader has been wronged. Bahut galat hua hai. I will speak to the I&B
Minister about the injustice meted out to a great leader," said Union Rural
Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.
Stating that it was an insult to
JP's memory, former Defence Minister George Fernandes said: "To pretend
the Emergency did not happen is to tamper with history."
And in a letter to Reddy, former
I&B Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote: "I understand that the portrayal
of his role on the resistance against the Emergency has become the reason
for not permitting the telecast. The attachment to the ideals of JP transcends
party affiliation. May I remind you that as I&B Minister, I had directed
the publication of a book on late CPM leader E M S Namboodripad under the
"Makers of Modern India" series. It is high time the contribution of eminent
Indians was viewed objectively for posterity, regardless of the political
divide."
UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh
Yadav has gone a step forward, stating that his government would show the
film even if the Centre banned it. "The Centre was reluctant to show this
film as it would project the real face of the Congress by showing the atrocities
its government committed on the common man during Emergency."