What could be possibly common between Katrina Kaif and Prateik if it's not a film? It has been learnt that both the actors were students of what can be called 'Prakash Jha's Hindi tuitions'.
Kats, who is half Indian and half British, had to undergo extensive training to learn shuddha Hindi for Jha's Rajneeti, and now Prateik too, underwent a similar training for the director's forthcoming film, Aarakshan.
The director, who hails from the heartland of India and speaks impeccable Hindi himself, makes sure that all his actors speak the purest form of the language in his movies.
While it is a task for actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Manoj Bajpai, who are considered as veterans in the language, to match up to Jha's expectations, for Bandra-boy Prateik it was an even bigger feat.
Prateik says, "More than any teacher, Prakash sir was my guru in Hindi. His comment over the language is unbelievable; he guided me a lot in picking up the desired dialect.
All of us went through a 15-day workshop to learn shuddha Hindi."
Jha says, "Like every other actor I had sessions with Prateik, too. I informed him about his character and asked him to go through the lines again and again.He picked up the dialect very fast. We speak Marathi, Gujrati and Punjabi. So that's why we feel Hindi is difficult. But it's not."
Reel to Real
Amitabh Bachchan, who plays an idealistic principal in Prakash Jha's Aarakshan, turns a real life principal for a day at various colleges across the nation.
A source informs, "He will be playing a guest principal in Wellington College, Mumbai and Kolkata, and Hindu College, Delhi."
The director confirms that the senior Bachchan is visiting all these colleges. "He is definitely interacting with students on reservations and educational issues, " says Jha.
