Prakash Jha's film on Bihar's politics strikes chord in Greece

Jun 6, 2008 Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, June 6 (IANS) Filmmaker Prakash Jha was pleasantly surprised when his film on the kidnapping and murky politics of Bihar - "Apaharan" - struck an instant note with an audience in Greece.

Jha was in Greece to receive the Kostas Kyriazias award for contribution to human values. The award is named after the owner and founder of Greece's oldest newspaper Ethnos.

"I was asked to bring along one of my works to receive the award. I was thinking of taking along one of my earlier films. But the director of the Los Angeles film festival, who's a Greek, suggested 'Apaharan'.

"Why 'Apaharan', I wondered. But to my surprise I found the Greek audience warming up to and connecting with the political scenario in Bihar even without Greek subtitles. The Q&A (question and answer) session lasted for nearly two hours. The Greeks could identify with bullies infiltrating into politics," Jha told IANS.

Jha aims for the same kind of universality in his next film "Rajneeti". "I want to use Ranbir's (Kapoor) character to show the close connection between Hindu mythology, Indian politics and power-play in every country and culture."

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Apaharan