Prakash Jha has enjoyed a rather celebrated career behind the camera. Known for building his niche around emotionally charged political dramas, Jha has also been the recipient of multiple National Film Awards. However, the journey to this appreciation and acknowledgement has been long in the making - one which commenced with Jha essentially disappointing his father.

Prakash Jha recalls his father's reaction to him opting for Fine Arts over the National Defence Academy

In an interview with ANI, Prakash Jha revealed that he had made the cut for the National Defence Academy. However, though his friends, he shares, have retired as Lieutenant General and Major General, he knew right away in college, that he wanted to go down a different path. Speaking about his father's reaction to his decision to pursue Fine Arts, Jha recalls him saying, "What will you paint? Will you paint sign boards?"

He futher shared, "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."

Prakash Jha's eureka moment

Prakash Jha also shed light on the moment he realised he wanted to become a director. It was when he had visited the sets of 1973 film Dharma and he saw the crew in motion, did it strike him that this is what he wanted to do with his life. 

He said, "...We went to Sun and Sand, where Dharma film's shooting was going on. Navin Nishchal, Rekha Ji, Pran Sahab were there. The picturisation of a song was going on. This is 1972. I stood in a corner, then I watched and then I saw the trolleys being laid, the lights being set up...it was an action scene, 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. I want to become a director."