This Agra traffic cop is newest star in Bhojpuri cinema

AGRA: Anand Kumar Ojha switches seamlessly between real and reel. One day he's seen at Agra's busy crossings, keeping an eye on traffic movement, and the next he is the lead in Bhojpuri films.
A celebrity of sorts in Agra’s traffic police department, Ojha joined UP police in 2001 as sub-inspector. But not before running away from home to start a career as an actor in Mumbai.“Ojha was passionate about acting since childhood. He fled home twice, once as a school boy and later when he was in college, to Mumbai. But it didn’t work out. He later joined police, but never gave up on acting,” said Rakesh Sharma, a batchmate who is from Ojha’s village in Bihar’s Ara.

“He is an apt example for those who want to follow their passion in life. As a cop also, he has set a benchmark. He is always available,” said traffic inspector Satish Rai, a senior to Ojha. “He doesn’t excuse himself from work to shoot films. Instead, he uses his yearly leaves for it." A story goes that in 2013, when traffic inspector Ojha was posted in Lucknow, he rescued a 22-year-old college girl from abductors. He was feted for it by his seniors. Ojha, now 40, was transferred to Agra in the first week of February from Lucknow.

Ojha idolizes Amitabh Bachchan. “During my school days, I fled home with Rs 20 in my pocket and set off for Mumbai. But the train’s ticket collector found out and I returned home after reaching Jabalpur,” the officer said.

“A couple of years later, seeing my passion for acting, my friends collected Rs 500 and sent me to Mumbai. I worked as a watchman for months, visited studios but didn’t get an opportunity. Later, my father Shirbhagwan Ojha brought me back,” Ojha recounted. “He wanted to see me as a government servant and didn’t admire my acting skills. Once there was hiring going on in the police force in Varanasi. My friends suggested I should tag along with them to Varanasi and tell my father that I was sitting for the test, and that I could use that as my escape route to Mumbai. But after reaching Varanasi, I decided to fulfil my father’s wish. I got selected.”

“In 2005, while I was posted in former CM Mulayam Singh’s security convoy, I got an opportunity to visit Mumbai. It was there that I met Bhojpuri movie producer Nirmal Pandey and gave an audition. I got the role of lead actor in a movie called ‘Piyar Karela Tuhi Se’.”

The Bhojpuri movie which catapulted Ojha to success was ‘Sabse Bada Mujrim’ in 2013. "In the movie, my character was that of a child who was born after his mother’s rape. Later, I killed my father who had raped my mother. Bollywood actor Rahul Roy was also part of the movie. I started getting offers after that,” Ojha said. Five movies are in the pipeline-- Herogiri, Kumbh, Love Express, Rann and Mahi. In April, he will be in Europe shooting for ‘Mahi’. Currently, Ojha is in Mumbai to record his voice-over and dubbing for the movie Rann.

The cop does not charge money for his movies, as he is bound by UP Police’s code of conduct. “I work in movies, because acting is my passion. The government gives me salary for my policing job,” he said.

ADG (Agra zone) Ajay Anand said, “Inspector Anand Kumar Ojha is a good actor and there is nothing wrong in following passion as long as his personal conduct does not affect his duty.”

Ojha added, “As most of my leaves are exhausted in shootings, I meet my family – wife and three children, on film sets.”
He credits his success to his wife Sujata Ojha, a PhD scholar in Sanskrit. Speaking to TOI, Sujata says, “Apart from me, our three children also read scripts of his movies before he signs it. We are the critic and the motivators.” Sujata and her three children--Harshita, 13, Akrati, 10 and Nishant, 6 -- live in Lucknow. “As most of my leaves are exhausted in shootings, I meet my family- wife and three children, on film sets," says inspector Ojha.