MUMBAI: Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan hit theaters today and Amitabh Bachchan can’t help admiring the director’s scrupulous research on the subject of job reservations.
Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, Bachchan says, “Prakashji sent me some of the research material and I was speechless by the corruption that has seeped into the whole system of imparting knowledge. Coaching institutions have mushroomed all over the country. This has become a multi-million rupee business in our country. Our education system is in shambles because we’ve no uniform code of education. We have civil service examinations for IAS (Indian Adminstrative Service) and IPS (Indian Police Service) but there is no ITS – Indian Teaching Service. I say as much in the film. Prakashji has been able to bring issues of job reservation into Aarakshan without making it a dry pedantic preachy film.”
This is the first issue-based film that Bachchan has done. “In fact, it was Prakashji who pointed this out to me. I have done Main Azaad Hoon before but the issue in that – job opportunities – was treated in an abstract manner. Aarakshan is my first hard issue-based film,” agrees Bachchan.
There is the risk of the actor’s own political ideology being mixed with the politics of Aarakshan. To this, he says, “Whenever I’m asked to express my own opinion on the job-reservation issue I firmly point out that my ideology has nothing to do with the character’s ideology and the ideology of Aarakshan. Please do no confuse the actor with the characters he plays.”
