Prakash Jha

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Prakash Jha was raised at his family's farm in Barharwa, Bettiah, West Champaran, Bihar, India. His father's name is Shri Tej Nath Jha. He did his schooling from Sainik School Tilaya, Koderma district and Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand. Later, he joined Ramjas College, Delhi University to do BSc (Hons) in Physics, though he left his studies after one year, and decided to go to Bombay (present-day Mumbai) and become a painter. While he was preparing for J.J. School of Arts, he happened to witness the shooting of the film Dharma and got hooked on filmmaking. He graduated from KC College, Mumbai

He joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune in 1973, to do a course in editing. Midway through it, the institution was closed for while due to student agitation, so he came to Bombay, started working, and never went back to complete the course.

Prakash was at one time married to actress Deepti Naval with whom he has an adopted daughter Disha Jha.

While still midway through his course, he started working on films independently in 1974. He made his first documentary, Under the Blue, in 1975, and continued to do so for the next eight years.

During this period he made some highly politically charged documentaries, like the one of the Bihar Sharif riot, titled, Faces After Storm (1984). It 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.

He made his debut as a feature film director with 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 for, 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, 13 feature films, two television features and three television series, including the popular TV serial Mungerilal Ke Hasin Sapne. His production company has produced five films with independent directors.

In 2004, Jha directed the 112-minute film Loknayak, based on the life of Bharat Ratna Jayaprakash Narayan. In the film, Chetan Pandit played the role of Narayan and Tisca Chopra played Prabhavati Devi, the wife of JP.

In 2010, Jha directed Raajneeti, a contemporary take on the epic Mahabharata. 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 release Chakravyuh starred Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpai, Kabir Bedi and Esha Gupta, and was released in Dussehra 2012. His next film Satyagraha (2013) starred Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn.

In 2019, he acted in the film Saand Ki Aankh a biographical film directed by Tushar Hiranandani. He played Rattan Singh Tomar, the patriarch of the Tomar family.