Not Just Bollywood | Filmmaker-actor Prakash Jha on his film Highway Nights in consideration for Academy Awards 2023
Not Just Bollywood | Filmmaker-actor Prakash Jha on his film Highway Nights in consideration for Academy Awards 2023
Highway Night is about an old truck driver (Seetaram) who on a particular night picks up a girl (Manju) from the highway who is a sex worker. During the journey they strike up a conversation. An unusual bond develops between them by the time it is morning, Seetaram feels a paternal affection for Manju.
In conversation with the National Award-winning filmmaker-actor Prakash Jha on the film where he plays the role of a truck driver, Jha says, “When the script of Highway Nights was brought to me, I was really happy and I felt the story needs to be told as it dealt with the lives of two completely different spheres, one the predator and the other the victim, the truck driver and the highway sex worker, so these two unusual people come together. It is good to see them meeting up and sharing their lives.”
Directed by Shubham Singh, it has been awarded the grand jury prize at Best of India Short Film Festival 2021. The film is produced by Akhilesh Choudhary along with Shubham Singh, and will have a theatrical release in Hollywood-Los Angeles. It will also be in running for the 2023 Oscars.
Inspired by the true history of the Bachhada tribe in Madhya Pradesh, Highway Nights is a heart-warming story that subtly showcases how women are mistreated and thrown into the vicious circle of flesh trade in remote regions of India. Explaining about the story Prakash Jha further adds, “It is real human compassion between the two of them which brings them together and they strike a relationship. This I thought was very touching and I had a great time working with my co-actors. The main thing was that the film was really interesting and I am happy that the film has travelled to many festivals. It has been selected for an Oscar nomination and I hope that it does well.”
The teenage girl in the story is from the Banchhada tribe, where, the traditionally males of the family don’t opt for any work, but they deploy the females of the family into sex trade. A legally prohibited practice in India, was the whole and sole mode of income for the entire community. And this tradition was followed for years where the tribe believed that during the British Raj era (Pre – Indian independence), a person from their community accidently killed a British officer. The consequences of the incident were very harsh as the incumbent governor at that time penalised the entire tribal community by banning them from working anywhere in India. Left with no option, they got involved into sex trade and since then, this legacy was being passed onto generations.
The main message of the film is how education is important for a girl child. Jha adds, “The film shows that the truck driver’s daughter is a brilliant student. The young girl who he meets on that night says that she, too, was a brilliant student and a good athlete. He adopts her so that she gets the support to restart her education. It was a very beautifully laid out story and it had a very strong message. I saw that there was an honest intention to do a film with a subtle message.”
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