Prakash Jha is an eminent Bollywood director especially recognized for his socio political films. He has also worked as a producer and screenwriter for the Hindi film industry. He has also directed documentaries which have been applauded critically. His production company is known as Prakash Jha Productions and he also owns the P&M Mall in Patna, in Bihar. Some of the prominent films of Prakash Jha include Apaharan, Gangaajal, Aarakshan, Raajneeti and others. Prakash Jha has been conferred a number of prestigious awards for his outstanding works in the Hindi film industry.

Early Life of Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha was born on 27th February 1952 and grew up in his family`s farm in Baraharwa in the West Champaran district of Bihar. He attended Sainik School Tilaya in Koderma district and Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bokaro Steel City (Jharkhand). He joined Ramjas College, Delhi University, for graduation in Physics but left it a year after. He wanted to go to Mumbai to pursue a career as a painter. While he was taking the preparation for J.J. School of Arts he visited the film shoot of Dharma and got inclined towards filmmaking. In 1973 he joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. When he was halfway through the course, the institution closed briefly owing to some agitations during which he came to Mumbai and never went back for completing the course.

Career of Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha began his career in 1974 leaving behind his course at FTII. His first documentary, Under the Blue, released in 1975 following which he continued working on documentaries for the next 8 years. He captured crude political scenarios in his documentaries among which his 1984 film Faces After Storm based on Bihar Sharif riots gained substantial attention. Within 4-5 days of its release it was banned although later it won National Film Award.

He made his directional debut in feature films in 1984 with the movie Hip Hip Hurray, scripted by Gulzar and featuring Deepti Naval and Raj Kiran. He gained recognition in the industry with his 1984 film Damul, based on bonded labour issue in Bihar, which was praised by the critics. Based on the story of the noted Rajasthani writer Vijaydan Detha, he made the film Parinati in the year 1986. In the following years he worked on a number of documentaries, feature films, television features and television series among which a popular one was the TV show Mungerilal Ke Hasin Sapne. His contemporary take on the Indian epic Mahabharata, titled Raajneeti, in 2010 garnered him much appreciation critically as well as commercially. The multi-starrer film featured Ranbir Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Bajpai and Ajay Devgan. Other successful ventures of Prakash Jha include Mrityudand, Dil Kya Kare, Loknayak, Aarakshan, Chakravyuh, Satyagraha and many others.

Other Ventures of Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha indulged in politics by contesting in the elections of Lok Sabha from his native Champaran in 2004. He also contested in 2009 as Lok Janashakti Party candidate from West Champaran. He is also actively involved in the development initiatives in Bihar through his NGO named Anubhooti. Anubhooti is a registered society which works for disaster management, improvement of health care, cultural development and upliftment of farmers and socio-economic backward classes in Bihar and has Prakash Jha as the chairman.

Personal Life of Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha was married to the renowned actress Deepti Naval and the couple had adopted a daughter named Disha and a son named Priyaranjhan. They however separated later.

Achievements of Prakash Jha