Prakash Jha

Prakash Jha was raised at his family's farm in Barharwa, Bettiah, West Champaran, Bihar, India. His father's name was Shri Tej Nath Jha and Mother's name was Smt. Vijaya Jha. He did his schooling from Sainik School Tilaya,^[3] Koderma district and Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand. Later, he joined Ramjas College, Delhi University to do BSc (Hons) in Physics, though he left his studies after one year,^[4] and decided to go to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) and become a painter. While he was preparing for J.J. School of Arts, he happened to witness the shooting of the film Dharma and got hooked on filmmaking. He graduated from KC College, Mumbai^[5][6]

He joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune in 1973, to do a course in editing. Midway through it, the institution was closed for while due to student agitation, so he came to Bombay, started working, and never went back to complete the course.^[7]

Prakash was married to actress Deepti Naval with whom he has an adopted daughter Disha Jha.^[8][9] Prakash also has a brother Prabhat Jha who is based in Bihar and a sister Sangita Jha. He has a nephew Manish K Jha who is marketing Director of P&M Mall.

While still midway through his course, he started working on films independently in 1974.^[10] He made his first documentary, Under the Blue, in 1975, and continued to do so for the next eight years.^[4]

During this period he made some highly politically charged documentaries, like that on the Bihar Sharif riot, titled, Faces After Storm (1984). It received considerable attention, as it was banned within 4–5 days of its release,^[7] though later it won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film for the year.

He made his debut as a feature film director with Hip Hip Hurray in 1984, scripted by Gulzar and starring Raj Kiran and Deepti Naval as leads.^[11] Next came the film he received most recognition for, Damul (1984), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie in 1985. The film was based on the bonded labour issue in Bihar.

In 1986, he directed Parinati, based on the story by Vijaydan Detha.^[12]

Over the years he has made over 25 documentaries, 13 feature films, two television features and three television series, including the popular TV serial Mungerilal Ke Hasin Sapne. His production company has produced five films with independent directors.^[13][14]

In 2004, Jha directed the 112-minute film Loknayak, based on the life of Bharat Ratna Jayaprakash Narayan. In the film, Chetan Pandit played the role of Narayan and Tisca Chopra played Prabhavati Devi, the wife of JP.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

In 2010, Jha directed Raajneeti, a contemporary take on the epic Mahabharata. It starred Ajay Devgan, Manoj Bajpai, Naseeruddin Shah, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar and Ranbir Kapoor, and was a critical and commercial success. His next venture was Aarakshan, which starred Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan Deepika Padukone and Prateik Babbar.^[20] In 2012, Jha's release Chakravyuh starred Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpai, Kabir Bedi and Esha Gupta, and was released in Dussehra 2012.^{[21][22][23][24]} His next film Satyagraha (2013) starred Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn.^[25][26]

In 2019, he acted in the film Saand Ki Aankh a biographical film directed by Tushar Hiranandani. He played Rattan Singh Tomar, the patriarch of the Tomar family.^[27]

Prakash Jha contested and lost the 14th Lok Sabha election from his native place Bettiah in 2004. He stood 6th and managed to get around 26,000 votes only, while the winner Raghunath Jha got 2,11,590 votes.^[28] He also lost the 15th Lok Sabha election to Sanjay Jaiswal in 2009 as Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate from Paschim Champaran.^[29][30][31] In the same election Sadhu Yadav stood 3rd as INC candidate.

Jha once again contested in the 16th Lok Sabha election in 2014 as a Janata Dal (United) candidate from Paschim Champaran and lost to Sanjay Jaiswal. In 2014 election affidavit he had mentioned that he has assets worth ₹92.5 crores and liabilities worth ₹55.2 crores.^[32]

Prakash Jha is the chairman of Anubhooti,^[33] a registered society that has been working for cultural development, improvement of health care, disaster management and the upliftment of farmers and socio-economically backward people in Bihar since 1991.

Most recently, the organization has been working for flood survivors. After the Kosi flood on 18 August 2008, Anubhooti has provided complete relief to 6000 people since September 2008. Anubhooti has created a model village, Hindolwa village, for those the flood affected, and is working towards their complete rehabilitation. Anubhooti has provided relief to 5000 people for health care in Supaul district in Bihar.