Prakash Jha says members of Congress party tried to hinder Rajneeti release: ‘They thought Katrina Kaif’s character was inspired by Sonia Gandhi’

Prakash Jha assembled an interesting group of actors when he directed his 2010 film Raajneeti. The film starred Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Ajay Devgn, Manoj Bajpayee, Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah among many others and was inspired by Mahabharat. In a recent interview, Prakash opened up about the struggles that he faced in trying to release the film. Jha shared that some members of the Congress party believed that the character of Katrina Kaif was based on Sonia Gandhi and they flew in to watch the film during its censor screening, and did not allow the film to get its censor certificate.

He shared with ANI, “I remember when I made Raajneeti, a few members from the Congress party came for the Censor Board screening of the film. They rejected my film and did not give us the certificate. They thought Katrina’s character was inspired by Sonia Gandhi. I moved the tribunal, which ultimately overruled the panel and gave us a certificate to go ahead with the film. I was even ready to take the matter to the Supreme Court as I knew there was nothing wrong with my film.” Jha’s film was received well by the critics and the audience at the time.

During the promotions of the film back in 2010, Katrina had shared that she followed Priyanka Gandhi, and not Sonia Gandhi, to prep for her character. “As part of the basic exercise I followed Priyanka because she is a very strong person. I feel she is very independent and a right blend of modern values, ethics and everything. And she is young,” she told PTI.

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She added that while she followed Priyanka for prep, her character was not based on the politician. She shared, “Prakashji (director Prakash Jha) liked Priyanka’s movement and that was only to see a person who is independent and modern and who is a leader. But my character is not at all based on her.”

Katrina, in fact, categorically denied that her character was based on Sonia Gandhi. She said, “I spent some years in England as you all know that my mother is English. Sonia ma’am also has a foreign connection. She wears saris, I too wear saris in the film, so people connected, which is quite logical. I can understand it. What I feel most importantly is people should understand that I am not playing Sonia Gandhi because then they will come with a wrong expectation.”

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