'I do not intend to pass any judgement'

POLITICAL DRAMA

Now, he is all set to give his take on the underbelly of Indian politics in Raajneeti, a movie which he says is inspired largely from the epic, Mahabharata.

For many, politics maybe a very difficult concept to understand. But Prakash says politics runs in the veins of all Indians. That’s why through Raajneeti, he takes politics a step above and showcases how it gets intertwined with the lives of individuals. Prakash even contested for the recent elections to get an insider’s view. “But that was not for the movie alone. I actually wanted to do something for the society. And in the process, I learnt and experienced a lot, and only a bit of it is used in the film,” says Prakash, who was in the City recently to promote the movie.

It may have taken Prakash five years to finish the film but what really pulled him towards the subject in the first place was the very nature of the topic. Handling each character with utmost care and making sure that no character has any resemblance to any living or dead politician was a challenge for him. Still when the promos were out, the first thing people did was to associate them with the politicians of today. “True, but I still stand by my statement. The beauty of the characters of Mahabharata is that people can associate themselves to them even today,” he says.

Though Raajneeti sounds like a serious film, Prakash insists that it is an entertaining one and that even during the making of the film, there were many light moments. “It has been a satisfying journey. There were times when we had to handle close to 7000 actors in one scene, which was tough. I still remember the huge vessels that were brought in to cook food for all of them. It was one huge picnic,” he recollects.

Is the film Prakash’s judgement on Indian politics? “I do not intend to pass any judgement. I am only trying tell the story of the present-day democracy where power overtakes everything. The judgment is left to the audience to make,” he says.