What prompted you to pick the life and times of Raja Ravi Varma for your film? Raja Ravi Varma is the greatest painter of India. He’s known as the father of modern Indian art. I saw his paintings and prints for the first time while in film school and was fascinated by his art. Later, I read Ranjit Desai’s Marathi novel about his life and realised what a colourful and controversial character he was. Raja Ravi Varma faced intolerance where he was charged with obscenity for painting some mythological characters in nude. He fought and won the case. It seemed like a perfect story to tell in these times.
How many paintings did he make in his lifetime? Which among those is your most favourite painting? He’s one of the most prolific painters of his times, there are hundred of paintings. There is a huge collection of his paintings in the palaces of Baroda, Thiruvananthapuram and Mysore as well as with private owners. I like his series of paintings on mythological women like Seeta Bhoomi Pravesh and Draupadi Cheer Haran. He is known for light and shade effects, the fall and folds of fabric and the facial expressions of subject in his paintings.
Don’t you own a Ravi Varma painting? Oh no! He is way beyond my reach. He’s highest priced Indian painter. The last painting of his sold for over seven crore.
What is his biggest creative achievement according to you? He truly created a pan-Indian iconography. The saree as we see today has been popularised by Raja Ravi Varma.
I see him as a true renaissance man, a free modern mind.
He worked across mediums - he started with water colours and experimented with oil paints, photography and lithography.
It is surprising that you should have chosen Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen for such sensitive portrayals considering that neither actor is known for acting prowess.
When you see the film, their performances will come as a surprise to you. I needed actors who would go out all the way and get into the skin of the characters. Also they didn’t have the persona or image that would come in the way.
How authentic an account is the film? The film is based on Ranjit Desai’s novel. I saw all his paintings. Rang Rasiya follows the journey of the artist as well as the classic romance of the artist and his muse.
I travelled to all the places he visited - like his home in Kerala, Benaras, Rajasthan and places where he travelled.
I also spoke to artists and researchers and read all material available on him.
Owing to frontal nudity, censors have given your film an Adults certificate.
I wonder why the media is so obsessed about it! The film is about the court case that Raja Ravi won. Indian culture is much more liberal and liberated than it is made out to be. Somewhere people have got stuck with Victorian morality which is 100 years old. And it is time to liberate our mind. There is no shame attached to human anatomy.
There is nothing wrong in it. When the Censor Board officials saw the film, they loved and they congratulated me . They have passed it with an “A” certificate and we are fine with it.
The film made quite an impact at various film festivals.
Did the viewers really connect with the story? Within one week we travelled over three continents - London, New York and Sri Lanka–with completely different and diverse audiences and the response was overwhelming.
We received a standing ovation in New York and London. They felt that the film was completely relevant in the present climate of intolerance. They felt that the performances were brilliant, Will it be Jhansi Ki Rani with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan next? I have been working on Jhansi Ki Rani for 4-5 years now and I have spoken to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan about it.
This was to be a trilogy –Mangal Pandey, Jhansi Ki Rani and then Bahahdur Shah Zafar.
When you make ...Zafar, who would be your dream cast for the title-role? Amitabh Bachchan of course!