Prakash Jha Productions and charitable organisation 'Anubhooti' founded by the Indian filmmaker, have come together to raise funds to build a 1200-bed multi- specialty hospital in India's eastern state of Bihar to provide health care to the needy and 'Raajneeti' as an entity will support the NGO for this social cause.
Jha hopes to leverage the response to the film in a manner that will go beyond glamour and entertainment and proposes to hold world wide premieres of his upcoming film 'Raajneeti' in conjunction with benefit dinners in several
cities across the world including New York, LA, San Francisco,Toronto, London, Singapore, HongKong, Durban, Dubai, Muscat,Mumbai and Delhi to support this initiative.
Founded in 1991, 'Anubhooti' has worked to support cultural development, flood survivors, and health care.
In 2008, the NGO raised several crores for 'Punarwaas'Flood Relief Mission, a project for relief and rehabilitation of people ravaged by 2008 Kosi river floods.
"Now, Anubhooti envisions building a multi-functional hospital--Anubhooti Medical Care--to provide quality health care to the needy. The last few years have seen a significant
improvement in governance and basic facilities in Bihar, but a lot remains to be done. The region significantly lacks competent health care," Jha said.
With a population of 83 million of which 40 per cent are below the poverty line, Bihar is the third most populousstate in India, the filmmaker said.
Bihar is able to provide only one bed for
every 2,969 people, render one registered doctor per 3000 people, favor restricted ambulance services only in district headquarters
which are equipped with only 20-25 qualified doctors each, he said.
With an average of 1.5 lakh Nepali immigrants coming to the state for medical treatment per year, the expectations from Bihar's medical resources are significant. It is urgent that Bihar upgrades its health services to cater to people within the state and from neighbouring areas and this hospital would be a step towards fulfilling the need, Jha added.
On his next release, 'Raajneeti', Jha said it was a study of the electoral politics in the world's largest democracy- India.
The film boasts of a glittering starcast in Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, and Naseeruddin Shah - all of whom will be supporting Anubhooti's efforts.