I'm not launching Paswan's son as actor: Prakash Jha

Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag is all set to enter Bollywood and there were rumours that filmmaker Prakash Jha, who is to contest the Lok Sabha polls on the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) ticket from Bihar, is launching the youngster. The director has rubbished the reports, but said the newcomer had all the qualities of a good hero.

'Chirag is a very gifted boy. He's tall and good-looking and ideal hero material. He has also been training hard for a career and is not taking the golden spoon in his mouth lightly. So, yes, as a filmmaker from Bihar I do feel duty-bound to do something with Chirag. However, I'm not launching Chirag. Do I look like the kind of person who'd give in to such arm-twisting tactics?' said Jha.

The filmmaker, who is known for his hard-hitting movies set in Bihar, clarified that Chirag was being launched in a film by producer Anuj Saxena.

'Anuj Saxena is doing the needful. And he has all my support. I recently went through the script of Chirag's launch film and I must say it's funny and intelligent,' said Jha, who is the LJP candidate from West Champaran.

Saxena of Maverick Productions, which has just released 'Aloo Chaat', said Chirag's debut film had three heroines and was currently in the pre-production stage.

'It's a film entitled '50-50' directed by Tanvir Khan, who did 'Madhoshi' (with John Abraham and Bipasha Basu). The film is in pre-production and we start (shooting) in June. We've chosen a love story for Chirag's launch with three new girls. Baba Azmi is doing the cinematography,' Saxena said.

Asked if Paswan had put his money into his son's launch, Saxena replied in the negative.

'Chirag has it in him to become a star. I love launching new actors. In 'Aloo Chaat' I've launched TV actress Amna Sharif,' he said.

Other sons of politicians in showbiz are Riteish Deshmush, son of Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, and Rahul Mahajan, the late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan's son.

(Subhash K. Jha can be contacted at jhasubh@gmail.com)