'Tum sign board paint karoge?,'" Prakash Jha recalls dad ashamed of his pick of fine arts for career

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 14 : Multiple National film award-winning filmmaker Prakash Jha who has worked with an array of stars across a career spanning said when he expressed his desire to pursue a profession in the fine arts, his father was shocked and very ashamed of him.
"What will you paint? 'Tum sign board paint karoge?,'" Jha, whose films 'Damul' and 'Sonal' have picked up National Film Awards in a recent interview with ANI recalled his father's words when he told him that he lost interest in pursuing an academic life and wanted to go to Mumbai to take up a career as a painter.
The 71-year-old producer and director, who has also acted in several films said, "I was selected for the National Defence Academy. I got through. My batchmates have retired as Lieutenant General and Major General. But I didn't join the Army. I did my 12th from CBSE and then I went to Delhi University. I was in Ramjas College. But by the time I began college, I realised that I wanted to do something different."
"In Bihar, UPSC, IAS, and IPS everyone was pursuing this. So I thought that I'd do something else and it was a big shock to my father and my mother. When I told them that I was not going to do my graduation and was going to go and join JJ School of Arts, I was an outcast from the whole society," said the director who was born in West Champaran in Bihar.
He also talked about the hardships he had while studying in Mumbai, saying, "When I was leaving home, so I didn't take any money from my father. I had some 300 rupees when I left home. Aur usme se 127 rupya ka ticket lag gya Patna se Mumbai. The struggle went on for about a year.
"I still don't understand why I went to Mumbai. But I went to Mumbai only. Because I could have gone to Delhi to join the school of art. So while I was kind of preparing to join the school I had no place to live and I had no money. So I was to do odd jobs. I tutored English to Gujarati businesspeople in Kalbadevi for them to converse with the foreigners," Jha recalls.
He also recounted that he became fascinated with the process of filmmaking while he was preparing for the JJ School of Arts and happened to witness the shooting of the 1973 film 'Dharma'.
He said, "I made friends with someone from Jaunpur while on the train itself. So I used to meet him sometimes. In his building, an art director, Aghajani used to live. Then, he and I became friends. So, one day he was leaving home and I asked him, where are you going. He said, 'to meet my director Chand Sahab.' So for the first time in my life, I asked him, 'Can I come with you?'"
"Then, we went to Sun and Sand, where Dharma film's shooting was going on. Navin Nischal, Rekha ji, Pran Sahab were there. The picturization of a song was going on. This is 1972. I stood in a corner and I watched and then I saw the trolleys being laid, the lights being set up.. it was an action scent,and there was a song going on, and the dresses were going around. And there were the actors and the music and everything.
"And I said, my God. This is it, this is what I would like to do. Director banna hai mujhe (I want to become a director)."
Notably, Jha is known for helming acclaimed projects like 'Gangaajal', 'Raajneeti', 'Aarakshan' and the web series 'Aashram'.
Apart from direction, Jha has also acted in films like 'Saand Ki Aankh' and 'Matto Ki Saikil'.