Ram Gopal Varma Is Still A Great Director (!)

Ram Gopal Varma made the film 'Aggi' that kept down many from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. There is no film viewer who praised the film. Everybody blasted it and also called the 'worst movie; in the career of Ram Gopal Varma'. But Abhishek Bachchan in an interview given this morning says that Ram Gopal Varma is the most talented director.

Yes, his talent was seen earlier but not seen now, is the comment from audiences.

Well, there is a reason for this statement of Abhishek Bachchan. Ram Gopal Varma is now making Sarkar Raj with entire Bachchan family- Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya- and hence the relation ship management is required. No one knows if Bachchan family works for another film after Sarkar Raj! Indeed, that all depends on the success of Sarkar Raj

My Sholay was jinxed from start: Ram Gopal Varma

Ram Gopal Varma silences the Aag critics… almost

Were do you think you went wrong with Aag?
I did go wrong. The one person I must have made supremely happy is Ramesh Sippy. I'm very happy to make him happy because he made my life. I saw Sippy's Sholay again last night. It's fantastic. I must've been nuts to attempt it.

All my impressions of Sholay over the years went into Aag. Now I ask myself, if someone else had made Aag and I as a fan of Sholay went to see Aag, how would I react? I'd probably hate Aag as much as pople have hated it. The original is too deeply embedded in the public's psyche.

Were you at all preprared for the severe backlash?
Can't say it was entirely unexpected. When you attempt to remake the most revered film in the history of Indian cinema you're going into the realm of the sacrilegous. Everyone from friends to well-wishers to people who didn't care a damn either way warned me I was heading for trouble.

Irrespective of whether the film was good or bad I was expecting extreme criticism. But I was not expecting such a low opening for the film.Whether it was because of the title or because of the film's look, I don't know.

People felt the film was looking very 1970s
But I wanted to make a 1970s film! So one way of looking at it as a homage to the decade. The other way is to see it as outdated. It's a question of perception.

Aag is your career's most vilified and ridiculed film.
I'd think so. The baggage of expectations was too high. The brickbats were a part of what people see as this upstart trying to tamper with a classic. The backlash isn't personal. Sometimes the criticism against some film begins and rises in a wave, all in one voice. I don't think people sat down and conspired to trash the film.

What according to you is the reason for the backlash?
They hate my guts for having the audacity to attempt to remake Sholay. But I'm used to be hated for what I do. Only this time the volume of protests is higher.

What do you mean?
They keep ridiculing me for everything I do. Everyone has a mind and tongue and the right to use them. I think it's human pleasure to attack others. No one has the time to be personal.

What about the SMS that said you should learn filmmaking from your former assistants Madhur Bhandarkar and Shimit Amin?
We all have an opinion on everything under the sun. If somebody feels I should learn filmmaking they're right in their own way. When Kissna failed they said Subhash Ghai should enroll in his own film institute. Ridiculing people is a form of entertainment.

At least I'm entertaining people more with their comments on Aag than I did with the film. They should at least thank me for that and give me a 5-star rating for providing post-release entertainment.

Maybe the volume of work goes against you.
I don't agree with that. I don't do anything but make films. And I can't take a break from what I do just because people want me to make less films.

In any case I don't think people care if I make 2 or 20 films a year as long as they like what they see, And who knows what will click? When I made Satya it was meant to be a no-show film with newcomers and a non-recognizable hero with a beard.

Then I made Daud with Sanjay Dutt and Urmila which was supposed to be a sure-shot. It bombed. I put in the same effort in every film. If I knew a film wouldn't work am I a madman to make it?

But people feel Aag was a careless work?
That's again a viewpoint. My intention was re-do the original without tampering with the spirit of Sholay. Now take Mohanlal. I had him with a beard all through because my logic was, how can a man without fingers shave? Then people say Mohanlal looks like a bear with the beard! Now what do I do?

As for Mr Bachchan as Babban, I wanted it to be low-profile. People found him inert and unenergetic. Let me clear this. Every actor has done exactly what he or she was told to.

If Mr Bachchan's performance was found to be inconsistent it's because through his character I tried to pay a homage to all the villains I know from Mad Max to Gabbar Singh to Anthony Hopkins in The Silence Of The Lambs to Jack Nicholson in Batman.

I was too busy enjoying Mr Bachchan's performance on sets. I lost track of the character's consistency in the film.

So you take full blame?
Yes. I take blame for every actor, camereman, dialogue writer,etc. They did what I asked them to. I kept on insisting Aag was a formula film. I never said I was making a classic. But I guess no one was listening. Right from the word go my Sholay was jinxed.

From the court cases to the title change…. Once I got caught in the process of separating the legal matters from the film I was jacked. See I'm a genre filmmaker. Sholay is not a genre. I was trying to artificially capture what didn't come naturally to me. I got confused.So obviously it wouldn't work.

The SMS that shook Ram Gopal Varma

Ram Gopal Varma has received innumerable text messages, all ridiculing and berating him for attempting to re-visit Sholay.

"The messages have been pretty vocal and direct about their dislike for what I've done. I've been called names and treated to the nastiest comments. But I've enjoyed the backlash, far more than people enjoyed Aag" laughs Ramu.

Here's the text that Ramu says changed his opinion on his right to remake his favourite film.
(Parts of the message have been revised for coherence)

"Hi Sir. To call Aag a piece of junk would be demeaning junk. What happened to the colours of Rangeela and the grit of Satya? No clear story, meaningless script, obsession with dark lighting, weak screenplay, and songs that are too high-pitched and outdated. You were in a hurry while shooting. Fast editing, nonsensical expressions, no romance, horrifying background music and choreography, cinematography is horrid, bad clothes, bad hoardings, bad amateurish dialogues, bad characterizations with no emotional graph for the characters…leaving the actors free to ham…outdated action, emotionless scenes, no comedy, no colour. You should sit and watch your film alone. No freshness, carelessness in creativity…You've become over-confident and losing touch with reality. You're handing over creative work to the wrong people. You're impulsively doing ten films at a time and not focusing on one project. You've enjoyed the shooting without caring about what the outcome would be. You're busy giving stupid interviews. What have you done in the past seven years except a couple of notable films?"

Says Ramu, "The above message shook me completely. It made me realize it's time for me to do some serious re-thinking about my career."

Ram Gopal Varma sings too?

Ram Gopal Varma's latest "Darling" has a scene where a ghost is supposed to sing in the background and the director got so immersed in the shot that he himself started singing the song while shooting.
As it happened, the shooting of the Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar starrer was being held in Versova and the scene, a serious one, was progressing smoothly. Everyone was in their positions, the camera rolling and suddenly, out of the blue, Ram Gopal Varma started singing the background song.

The crew stood shell-shocked.

"He was so immersed in the scene that it came out spontaneously and sincerely. But since the camera was rolling, no one dared to break the shot. But the instant the shot got over, everyone exploded laughing on the sets," said a source.

Looks like Ramu can get carried away like everyone else!

'I'm cutting down Ash's beauty!!!'

Ram Gopal Varma is currently in Hyderabad shooting for the sequel to Sarkar. The two Bachchand Amitabh and Abhishek are with him. Aishawarya is expected to join them later during the month.

"Aishwarya plays a very strong part with shades of negative in it. I'm completely changing her image. I'm cutting her beauty down. I've gathered a large supporting cast of ugly people and put her in the middle, so she'd come out looking stunning in her naturalness."

Apparently the two Bachchan men are so taken up with Aishwarya's part that they keep joking they could play her role.

Ramu is relieved to be away from Mumbai. "Hyderabad is like coming home for me. I belong to Hyderabad though I am a total Mumbaiyite now. Some of my early films were made in Hyderabad. So life has come a full circle," he says from Ramajirao studiow where a set depicting the home of the Bachchans has been built.

"Sarkar 2 is far more original than Sarkar. It will have far less of Godfather 2 than Sarkar had of Godfather 1. Sarkar 2 isn't about the mafia. It's a family drama."

And then a whammer of a confession. "I haven't made a single original film till Sholay. Every scene shot and frame of my earlier films have been copied from some source or the other. It could be a novel, a Hollywood or an old Hindi film. If I haven't been caught out it's because people haven't been able to locate my sources. Sholay is my first original film."

Sholay, says the incorrigible Ramu, isn't an underworld film. "It's almost a throwback to the kitschy films of the 1970s, like Nasir Husain's Yaadon Ki Baraat or Chori Mera Kaam. It isn't a gangster film nor a dacoit drama. The original Sholay created an excitement by giving the audience one slammer of a scene after another. I hope to do the same."

Ramu feels Nishabd to be the senior AB's most accomplished performance to date. "I personally think Sarkar was a cakewalk in comparison. To carry off a subject matter like that isn't very easy. However making Nishabd was a mistake. When Cheeni Kum did a old man-young woman love story there was a tongue-in-cheek element to it. Nishabd was too dark. There was resistance against seeing the film."

He ponders, " Mr Bachchan in Nishabd was over-cast. It should've been done with sn actor with a much less strong image. When Victor Bannerjee fell in love with a much younger woman in Joggers Park it didn't matter whereas there was outrage about THE AMITABH BACHCHAN falling in love with his daughter's friend in Nishabd.

To me Nishabd was Mr Bachchan's most accomplished performance. But I'd rather use him in a film like Sarkar where one closeup had more impact than the whole of Nishabd."

In Sarkar 2 Ramu is showcasing the senior and junior Bachchan keeping their image in mind. "Only Aishwarya gets the privilege of revamping her image," Ramu shoots off.

Ram Gopal Varma sings for Darling

In Ram Gopal Varma's latest movie, Darling, starring Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar, there was a scene where a ghost is supposed to sing in the background. The shooting was being held in Versova and the scene, which was a serious one, was progressing smoothly.

Everyone was in their positions, the camera was rolling and suddenly out of the blue, Ram Gopal Varma started singing the background song!!! The crew stood around shell-shocked!!! He was so immersed in the scene, that it came out spontaneously and sincerely.

But since the camera was rolling, no one dared to break the shot. But the instant the shot got over, everyone exploded laughing on the sets!!! Looks like Ramu can get carried away like everyone else!