In conversation with 'Jai Gangaajal' team

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Jai Gangaajal director Prakash Jha with Priyanka Chopra

The Jai Gangaajal team - Prakash Jha, Manav Kaul and Rahul Bhatt - are all praise for their lead star Priyanka Chopra. In a free-wheeling chat with City Times, the trio reveal the secret behind Priyanka Chopra's success and why Jai Gangaajal is an accurate representation of India

By Arti Dani

Published: Wed 2 Mar 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Sat 5 Mar 2016, 10:24 AM

POSTERS OF QUANTICO and magazine covers featuring Priyanka Chopra are not an uncommon sight in New York and many other parts of America. She has successfully broken into the West with Quantico and enjoyed the limelight at the Oscars in Los Angeles. As her Instagram handle rightly says, 'Nowhere to go but everywhere to be.' Priyanka is clearly having the best of both the worlds when it comes to Bollywood and Hollywood. Right now, she is working on her Hollywood debut Baywatch in Miami, also juggling her schedule between filming Quantico in Montreal and promoting her film Jai Gangaajal that releases in the UAE today.
When the Jai Gangaajal team, including director Prakash Jha (who also plays a role in the movie) and actors Manav Kaul and Rahul Bhatt walked into the Khaleej Times office on Sunday to promote the movie, the absence of lead actor Priyanka Chopra, was merely a physical one since she was there in spirit (the actress did a Skype session with the Dubai media from Los Angeles). "I stay up at night for India and I stay up in the day time for America and that's my choice," Priyanka said. "I love Hindi films too much to not do them. And I love the fact that I am making a foray into something completely new. I want to be able to do that as well and as a woman my superpower is multi-tasking, so this is what I plan on doing."
'Only I can do this film'
The moment Priyanka heard the script of Jai Gangaajal, she told director Prakash Jha that only she can do this film. Prakash told us: "When I started developing the script and decided the story will revolve around a female cop, I had Priyanka in my mind. We wanted to work together for a long time. I called her, and then I saw her dates were filled with Bajirao Mastani, Madamji, and Quantico etc. But when she heard my script, within fifteen minutes she said, 'You are stuck now. I will have to work out my dates because no one else could do this film apart from me.'"
PC gets punch happy
In the trailers of Jai Gangaajal, Priyanka can be seen punching and breaking bones while she essays the character of a female police officer Abha Mathur. Her punches were so hard that during an action scene, Manav Kaul, who plays a villain in the movie, was left in pain for many days.
"She had already grown muscles from Mary Kom so there was no problem in that area. She is a fit girl. She trains every single day. In my films actions are real, you hit and you have to get hurt, that's how it works, it's not like you jump on the road and there will be three cars flying out, I don't do that kind of action. My actions are real and hard-hitting. When Manav hit me, I got hurt, when Priyanka hit Manav, he got hurt. That's how it works," said director Prakash Jha who is also debuting as an actor in this film.
He also added that training Priyanka for the role of an IPS officer in Jai Gangaajal helped her American TV show Quantico. "We trained her for Quantico. Before she left for Canada to shoot, we gave her a crash course in policing."
'She inspires me'
Even though Manav Kaul got hurt by Priyanka during the shoot of the film, he said, "I really admire her as an actor and also as a person. She has reached great heights in her career because of her determination. She inspires me. She is doing so many things - working in Hollywood, promoting this film. She has taught me how there are no shortcuts to success and how hard work can make anything possible. I remember when I saw her for the first time on the film set - it was in a marketplace full of heat and dirt, but I felt she looked stunning. Whenever she is on the sets, the atmosphere is so happy. People are giggling and laughing. Her energy is infectious."
Another co-star Rahul Bhatt who was recently seen in Fitoor with Katrina Kaif said, "I had a few key scenes in the film with her. She is extremely honest and very hard working. She is such a huge star but extremely down to earth; when she is on the sets she is into her character and thinks of nothing else other than performing."
"She probably finds 48 hours in 24 hours"
Priyanka started her career at 18 when she entered the Miss India contest. Now at 33, she is the most successful Bollywood export to Hollywood so far. "You have to be a good person to do good work," Jha explains.
"Most of the people who achieve great heights and success are essentially good people, otherwise you cannot. She is very simple and confident. I have worked with her as a director and co-actor; I feel that she is very self-secure. As a director, she gives you the confidence because she will ask you 1000 questions. She prepares herself very well, gets into the character and gives you extra in her performance.
"I had an amazing time preparing her for the role and a very interesting time working with her on the sets. I used to tell Priyanka about the real life stories of all the police officers that I met and that's how we prepared her character. She is extremely hardworking, she probably finds 48 hours in 24 hours."
'Priyanka has not typecast herself'
He also said that her hunger as an actor sets her apart from many of her contemporaries, "She has not typecast herself, each time you see her on screen be it Barfi, Kaminey, Bajirao Mastani, Fashion etc and these are four different people. You don't remember her as Priyanka Chopra in her films. Her whole behaviour, mannerism, dialogue delivery, acting pattern will change will every film. She processes all the information and comes up with a different character every time. That is the quality of a good actor.
"You need to be humble to be able to listen and understand the character. Priyanka gives you a flat ground, so you can feed it and build your own character. Apart from Priyanka even Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn have these traits."

"Nudity. probably I wouldn't do"

She has always been fearless about treading the unbeaten path. We ask Priyanka Chopra whether she feels any anxiety before entering a new film and what roles she would never do...
Why did you choose to do Jai Gangaajal?
It's such a relevant film in terms of feminism, in terms of farmers' suicides and so many another relevant topics in the country right now. I am so proud of this film. I don't think cops have a particular stereotype of a body language. Abha is a very strong woman raised and brought up in Uttar Pradesh. She has a lot of respect for justice, rules, law, and the system. Prakash and I spent about 12-15 hours on the first day of the shooting talking about this character Abha. I don't think you can stereotype what a cop wearing a uniform should be.
On your Twitter home page - there are pictures of Alex Parish from Quantico and Abha Mathur from Jai Gangaajal, both holding guns, how different are they?
They are completely different people and characters. The only common ground between the two of them is the law enforcement and the run-blame game. Abha is born and brought up in Lucknow; She's very honest, plays by the rules when it comes to law enforcement, whereas Alex breaks all the rules.
Will you show this film to your Quantico cast?
My cast is really excited and I will be showing this film to them ...
When you go into a new role, do you go with the confidence that you will pull it off or do you go with the anxiety whether or not you will able to do it?
Of course, there is anxiety whether I'll be able to pull it off or not because nobody has a 100 per cent track record including me. But I definitely have the confidence in my ability to do the job so I have a little bit of both.
Do you think more layered characters are being written for females these days?
I have been very blessed to have filmmakers who come to me with roles and films, which have characters with so many layers. I think it's a great time to be an Indian female actor - to be a female actor in entertainment.
Any role that you would not do?
Anything to do with nudity - probably I wouldn't do.
Are you a feminist?
Well, so many people talk about feminism, I just thought I'll show and do it. Actions speak louder than words. Jai Gangaajal is that kind of film. Equality for men and women is coming tomorrow or very soon. There will be a war. I think feminism wants men to stand up and say that women are as good as them.
For me, the most interesting challenge was not to make Abha look masculine. Just because she is playing a cop doesn't mean she needs to lose her feminine qualities.

What is Jai Gangaajal?

PRAKASH JHA GENERALLY holds a mirror to society through his movies. His movies are about the ugly reality of the caste system, violence and exploitation of the poor. In his movies, conflicts are never about a rich girl falling in love with a poor boy but it's about the conflict of ideology. He writes within the realm of reality but also creates drama and entertainment to engage the audience. Jai Gangaajal revisits the dusty heartland of central India and examines the society-police relationship. "We used a lot of references from many young IPS officers. We decided that Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) would be tough, she will be picking up the stick if needed but she will never use cuss words. She will never lose her feminine touch," the director said. Manav Kaul who plays a villain in the film is the talk of the town as the hottest new villain in Bollywood. We asked him if audiences tend to romanticise villains in movies.
"We have not glorified this role but he is definitely, not the cliched villain, that we see in Bollywood. He is very real, he cries when he is hurt, he has logics. My key point while playing this role was this character should have reasons why he is behaving in a certain way. I come from a small town in India and I have lived everywhere in India, so whenever I see a film directed by Prakash Jha, I feel it is an accurate representation of India."
Photos by Kiran Prasad (Khaleej Times) and AFP

CT280216-RG-JAI GANGAJAL. Bollywood Film Producer Director Prakash Jha with StarPriyanka Chopra ( On SKype) Manav Kaul, Rahul Bhat during the press conference of the upcoming film Jai Gangajal at Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai on 28th Feb 2016. Photo By: Rahul Gajjar

CT280216-KP-GANGAAJAL Bollywood movie stars of Jai Gangaajal Rahul Bhatt Prakash Jha and Manav Kaul visit Khaleej Times office during their promotional tour in Dubai on Sunday, 28 February 2016. Photo by Kiran Prasad

Rahul Bhatt, Prakash Jha and Manav Kaul at the Khaleej Times office

PRAKASH JHA GENERALLY holds a mirror to society through his movies. His movies are about the ugly reality of the caste system, violence and exploitation of the poor. In his movies, conflicts are never about a rich girl falling in love with a poor boy but it’s about the conflict of ideology. He writes within the realm of reality but also creates drama and entertainment to engage the audience. Jai Gangaajal revisits the dusty heartland of central India and examines the society-police relationship. “We used a lot of references from many young IPS officers. We decided that Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) would be tough, she will be picking up the stick if needed but she will never use cuss words. She will never lose her feminine touch,” the director said. Manav Kaul who plays a villain in the film is the talk of the town as the hottest new villain in Bollywood. We asked him if audiences tend to romanticise villains in movies.“We have not glorified this role but he is definitely, not the cliched villain, that we see in Bollywood. He is very real, he cries when he is hurt, he has logics. My key point while playing this role was this character should have reasons why he is behaving in a certain way. I come from a small town in India and I have lived everywhere in India, so whenever I see a film directed by Prakash Jha, I feel it is an accurate representation of India.”