Kranti Prakash Jha, who played Dhoni's friend in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, hopes his Maithili films will help break the stereotype surrounding the people of his state
Kranti Prakash Jha
Kranti Prakash Jha
Maithli is a lovely language that people may not even know is Bihari. People hear me talk and say 'you don't sound like a Bihari'. But, Biharis sound like me," says actor Kranti Prakash Jha. The good looking 30-year-old, who speaks in a Hindi that sounds like ear candy to us, was recently seen in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, as Dhoni's childhood best friend Santosh Lal (who taught him the famous helicopter shot).
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As we talk over chai at an Oshiwara Udupi joint, Jha appears quietly confident but also slightly overwhelmed at the newfound fame. "Recently at a mall, a few girls came up to me and asked for selfies. While I have done a few films before this, this has never happened to me," he smiles shyly. He was first noticed in the Bihari movie Deswa, about students who rebel against a corrupt system. He then went on to act in Mithila Makhaan, a Maithli film which won the National Award in the regional category this year. "I am a Maithli Brahmin, and the movie is about a guy from Canada coming back to his roots – somewhat like Swades. It should release in the metros soon, too," he says.
With these films he hopes to break the stereotypes surrounding Biharis. "We are more sophisticated than are made out to be." Hailing from Bhagalpur, the son of a civil servant, Jha found himself "only concentrating on studying as all Biharis do that" during his college years spent at Hindu College, New Delhi. It was when he missed getting through his civil services exams that he headed to Mumbai in 2004. "I did theatre in college, but when I came here and started living with actors and writers, I realised I wanted to act. My father thought I had let him down," he says softly, then adds, "but a few months later, he call me and said, 'do whatever you want and be successful in that'. I think about that every morning."
Though he hates the word "struggle", he admits that there are challenges every day in Bollywood. "I think every role has a name written on it. And if you have to get it, you will. Take for instance, the role of Santosh Lal. When I got a call for it, they said had to play a 'friend' of hero. I had just played the role of Ranveer's (Singh) friend in Ram Leela, but you don't see me much there. So, I didn't want to get stuck. But then it worked out well, as every character is so well etched." For now he is happy that his friends — writer Ritesh Shah (who wrote Pink) and actor Rajesh Kumar (who plays Roshesh in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai) — have finally said that he is worth it. "They would pin point every thing I did. But after watching Dhoni, they came out and cried. And though they still didn't say anything, I knew they were proud. If you have those four people who are proud of you, it's all good."
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