'Aarakshan' First Look Thrills?

It was a reservation of aces. Quite aptly so, considering that Amitabh Bachchan,protagonist of Aarakshan was in his element at the premier dekko, the 'first look' event of Prakash Jha's flick convened at a suburban Mumbai hotel. Flanked by Prateik, screen writer Anjum Rajabali, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, and producer Firoz Nadidadwala, Bachchan addressed an eager media after the trailer was served up.

The 'first look' poster of the film was in for a treat too. Jha requested his cast and crew members to "stamp" a section of the huge poster and thereby confirm their "reservation." Expectedly, he stamped both sides of Bachchan's image on the poster asserting that he had "reserved Amitabh Bachchan two times."

Referrring to Bachchan as "bhaiya", Jha said that he did "learn a lot everyday" from the ace icon. Praise was in no deficit from Bachchan either who stated that he admired the manner in which Jha had "tackled such a difficult subject" and praised the "discipline and organised ways" of the director.

Jha requested Manmohan Shetty to "stamp" the poster too, stating that he was one person who stood by him right from the onset of his career. Jha also jokingly ribbed one of his crew members "not to stamp Deepika's face." Prateik too put it in his bit stating that he was "too humbled" to be working with "Bachchan Sir and Prakash Sir."

A clinching comment from Bachchan, was a dialogue from the film that goes, "In India, when we can have the IPS, IAS, IFS why don't we have an ITS… Indian Teaching Services?" Jha's flick tackles the bane of capitation fees, coaching classes, reservation and other pertinent issues plaguing the teaching system in the nation.

Jha's tagline of his flick 'India Vs. India' came in for a round of discussion too, with Jha stating "there is one India that has it all and there is the other India which does not."

Manoj Bajpai, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone were conspicuous by their absence, though Jha held fort well and battled media queries (including some asinine ones) with finesse. Bachchan too conveniently passed up tricky issues to Jha stating smoothly that he'd rather have "Jha answer it."