Socialist legend Jayaprakash Narayan and the rip-roaring waves of agitational politics he unleashed in the 1970s aiming at cleansing of India’s political system are now shaping up for a celluloid celebration on nearly the same massive scale as Richard Attenborough’s unparalleled film Gandhi.
Actor and débutant politician Shekhar Suman, who lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in Patna Saheb as a Congress candidate, is currently working to make a biopic on JP and his anti-Congress student agitation in the 1970s. “It is closest to my heart, for JP has been my biggest inspiration. My film is going to be just as big in scope and execution as the Oscar-sweeping Gandhi,” Mr Suman told this newspaper in an exclusive interview on Friday. Tentatively titled Jayaprakash Narayan or Lokmanya, the movie is being produced by Mr Suman’s Windmill Entertainment Private Limited at a cost of about Rs 50 crores. Mr Suman, who is dividing time between his successful television appearances and extensive socio-political work in Bihar, is himself going to star as JP and also wants to direct it himself.
“The personality of JP and his nationalist vision have been so engrossing to me that I am keen on directing the film myself. But given the burden and challenges of being JP on screen, I am undecided if I will direct the film. After the ongoing exhaustive research work on JP’s life is over, maybe I will get a top-class director to flesh out the real JP for immortality on the screen,” said Suman.