Prakash Jha

Prakash Jha is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as Damul (1984), Mrityudand (1997), Gangaajal (2003), Apaharan (2005), including multistarrer hit movies Raajneeti (2010), Aarakshan (2011) Chakravyuh (2012), and Satyagraha (2013). He is also the maker of National Film Award winning documentaries like, Faces After The Storm (1984) and Sonal (2002). Jha runs a production company, Prakash Jha Productions. Jha also owns the P&M Mall in Patna. he started working on films independently, in 1974, and made his first documentary, Under the Blue in 1975, and continued to do so for next 8 years. During this period he made some highly politically charged documentaries, like the one of 'Bihar Sharif riots', titled, Faces After Storm (1984), which received considerable attention, as it was banned within 4–5 days of its release though later it won the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film for the year. Finally, he made his debut, as a feature film director, Hip Hip Hurray in 1984, scripted by Gulzar and starring, Raj Kiran and Deepti Naval as leads. Next came, the film he received most recognition with, 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. Over the years he has made over 25 documentaries, nine feature films, two television features and three television series including the popular TV serial Mungerilal Ke Hasin Sapne. In 2004,Prakash Jha directed a 112-minute film Loknayak based on the life of Bharat Ratna Jayaprakash Narayan.In the film, Chetan Pandit enacted the role of Jayaprakash Narayan and Tisca Chopra played role of Prabhavati Devi, wife of JP. In 2010, he directed Raajneeti, which was a contemporary take on the epic, Mahabharat. 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. In 2012, Jha's next release Chakravyuh starred Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpai, Kabir Bedi and Esha Gupta was released in Dussehra 2012. His next film Satyagraha (2013) starred Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn.

Born on: 27 February, 1952

Born in: West Champaran, Bihar, India