My ‘Chakravyuha’ has nothing to do with ‘Ko’: Prakash Jha

Mumbai: Prakash Jha’s next film ‘Chakravyuha’ is about Maoist movement and the director says that it has nothing to do with KV Anand’s Tamil political movie ‘Ko’. "I don`t know where this rumour started. And now the newspapers are reporting it. My new film is about the Naxal movement. But my film has got absolutely nothing to do with `Ko`. It`s an original subject. In fact, I`m away from Mumbai right now writing the film," said Jha. ‘Chakravyuha’ will go on floors in a month and it has Abhishek as a Maoist. Apparently the role is a challenge for the young actor he has started preparing. Jha has recommended Maoist literature to Abhishek. This is probably the first film since Mani Ratnam`s ‘Guru’ for which Abhishek has undertaken extensive research. The shooting will take place in Jha`s patent location Bhopal, and in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh. The director was actually supposed to start a film called ‘Satyagrah’ with Amitabh Bachchan and his favourite Ajay Devgn in January. But that film was postponed to the second-half of 2012. "In fact, I had Ajay`s dates from July since he finishes `Son Of Sardar` by then. But my film can`t be shot in the rains. I`ve to shoot `Satyagrah` in winter, so we`re shooting it in November and December 2012." This is the first year in his career that Jha would be directing two films. "And both are tough to shoot, not because of the big cast, but because the films take up issues that need very careful handling," said the director whose last directorial venture "Aarakshan" focused on reservation issues. While ‘Chakravyuha’ is about Maoist movement, ‘Satyagrah’ deals with politics and corruption. Jha was aware that Basu Chatterjee had made a film called ‘Chakravyuha’ way back in 1978. He recently met Basu-da, who in his habitually affable way said, "Han han le lo le lo". But then he found out another producer had registered the title ‘Ek Aur Chakravyuha’. But things are in place now and Jha said: " `Chakravyuha` is the best and only appropriate title for my film. I can`t think of calling it by any other name. Fortunately, we have the title now." IANS