Prakash Jha slams 'top actors' for selling gutkhas for money, says 'why will they work in my films if...'

The filmmaker Prakash Jha, in his recent interview, said that ‘top actors’ get Rs 50 crore for selling gutkha so ‘why will they work’ in his films? The Rajneeti director said his focus is on ‘content creation' as filmmaking doesn't start with money.

While speaking to The Times of India, “There are 5-6 actors. Look at the condition of these actors. Why will they work in my films when they get ₹50 crores for doing one gutkha advertisement? The actors are selling gutkha. Can you imagine? What are these top, legendary actors doing? We had gone to a school for location scouting. The principal of the school asked me what are you guys doing in the Mumbai film industry? The boys in our school are caught chewing gutkha. Roam around the north through Lucknow, Prayagraj and Mugalsarai, there are big hoardings put up where all our big stars are selling all types of gutkhas (tobaccos) and paan masalas.”

While speaking about the system, he said, "What do we do about the system? Unless and until we don’t correct our filmmaking process. The filmmaking process doesn’t start with money, it starts with the subject. It starts with the passion of making cinema. It can’t start with the 500-crore funding that you have got, so you can make anything. That’s what is happening...I have not sat idle even for a day. I have been producing content constantly. I haven’t made a film with a big star in a while, but I have made other stuff. That's fine, I’m happy about it. When stars take time out from selling gutkhas and want to focus on content, they will come to me automatically."

Earlier, Prakash even spoke about the failure of Aamir Khan's Laal Singh Chaddha, and stated that the film tanked due to its content, and not because of the boycott trend. The filmmaker, who is all set to make a comeback as an actor in Matto Ki Saikal, told Indiatoday.in that he is stopped working with A-list actors while adding that the latter too don't want to work with him.