‘Karna’tic Mode: Ajay Devgan

In Prakash Jha’s next,  Rajniti, he plans to blend contemporary Indian politics with chapters from the Mahabharat. The director has accumulated a formidable cast of actors. “Ajay Devgan will play a modern-day Karna and Nana Patekar has been cast as Krishna.”

Also in the cast are Vivek Oberoi and Manoj Bajpai in pivotal roles. “These are actors I’ve not worked with before. I’m looking forward to directing them. Ajay and Nana are old friends. We share a fantastic comfort level.”

Jha has yet to cast an actor for the character of Arjun. The character, as conceived by the director, modernises the mythological elements from the Mahabharat to include elements from Rajiv Gandhi’s  life. For Arjun, he has already zeroed in on an  upcoming actor. “I have an ideal actor in mind for the role,” says Jha.

Recently, Patekar and Jha took part in a passionate debate on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s oust-Biharis-from-Maharashtra campaign on NDTV.

After the debate, Raj Thackeray rang Jha for presenting a balanced view.

Intelligent?

Says Jha, “Raj is a friend and an intelligent, educated  man. I truly believe artistes need to rise above politics. I make cinema on politics. But I’d never be part of it.”

Three decades ago, Shyam Benegal incorporated elements from the Mahabharat into entrepreneurship in Kalyug. Now,  Jha will blend mythology into Indian politics.