Author: Upala KBR
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: October 14, 2004
URL: http://ww1.mid-day.com/entertainment/news/2004/october/94707.htm
It is not the first time that the
state has attempted to subvert an artist's creative endeavour. This time
the players are filmmaker Prakash Jha and Prasar Bharati.
Jha's bio-epic on Jaya Prakash Narayan,
Lok Nayak Jai Prakash, is in the eye of a storm. The film was to be aired
on October 11, JP's birthday.
Yesterday Jha received a letter
from Raj Shekhar Vyas, director of programmes, Prasar Bharati Corporation,
stating a ban on its telecast till the filmmaker makes a "balanced representation
of events surrounding the Emergency" in the film. K S Sharma, CEO of Prasar
Bharati Corporation, cleared the film in July this year.
Says a livid Jha: "Now that the
government at the Centre has changed, they want me to make it a pro-Emergency
film.
They are actually asking me to justify
the Emergency. But I will not change my film. If they feel the need to
make any change let them mutilate it. This is an assault on my creative
sensibilities and judgment!
Am I making a film on Jaya Prakash
Narayan or the Emergency? They are asking me to show that the Emergency
was right and JP was wrong. One government goes and another comes, but
where does our own commitment to truth and history lie?"
DD has emphasised that the filmmaker
project the "need to impose Emergency" and "bring out its counterpoint".
"They want me to distort history
to satisfy their masters, the Congress government. But I have not put words
into people's mouths. I have portrayed the truth," says the filmmaker.
He is irked at being asked to flesh
out "recollections of those in close touch with JP, like Dr J K Jain, who
was his personal physician for 40 years.
"Who is Dr Jain?" says Jha. "He
is the owner of Jain TV and not significant. He is a broker for the Congress
and is peeved at not being included in the film."
Prasar Bharati wants these frames
removed:
* Tanashahi Ka Shikar Hua
* Indira Hatao slogan
* Sanjay Gandhi had a motive
* Jail Mein Kyon Maren, Bahar Maren
* Tanashahiwala Rajya Nahi Chalega
* Indiraji Ne JP Ke Saath Jo Zyadti
Ki
