With a glass of lime juice and the quintessential Blackberry, feeling at home and easily switching between English and Telugu, he settles down for an interview with the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window. Media’s favourite brickbat, controversial director Ram Gopal Varma, who is usually taciturn, is caught in a candid moment talking about his latest movie Rann, which is slated for release on January 29.
“Electronic media has become an essential aspect of everyday life. Telelvision is constantly telling people how theyshould feel and react to situations. It is a strange relationship between the three—the guy sitting on the couch and watching TV, what is being aired on TV and the people responsible for it—is what I have explored in the film,” explains RGV. Rann, which promises to expose the competitive and the darker side of the media industry, bears Ramu’s signature hard-hitting style of movie making.
After a series of movies like Satya and Company on the murky dangerous lives of underworld dons, which caught Bollywood and also the audience off guard, and a series of flops, Ram Gopal Varma is back with a movie that claims to bare it all, the inner workings of the media industry.
“My experience with the media is small compared to what is really happening. I mean to expose the political and media nexus,” comments Ram Gopal Varma when asked whether his own tug-of-war with the media has helped him in making Rann.
Controversies’ child RGV has been at the receiving end of the media on plenty of occasions — whether it’s the debacle of his movie Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag, which was a remake of Sholay or his visit to the Taj Hotel, aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks. Even Rann ran into trouble with the Censor Board when a variation of the National Anthem was used as its title song, which Varma later changed to Vande Mataram to avoid further controversy. Has the love-hate relation transpired into a media expose movie?
“There is a love-hate relationship. I love the media and they hate me. It has always been a one-sided affair,” laughs RGV exhibiting his sense of humour that is often kept away from the media. However, on a serious note he adds, “Targeting the film related media is not my motive behind the film. Media is like a strip-teaser. A strip-teaser strips her own clothes and the media takes glee in stripping others off their clothes for the sake of entertainment.”
The new corporate avatar of Bollywood, where every new movie is being aggressively marketed before its release and the producers and actors are coming up with innovative ways to sell them, RGV feels that it is the subject that will draw the crowds to the theatre. “Before the release of the Bollywood movie Speed, the producers had staged the blast of a bus as a marketing gimmick. I would have seen the movie despite the marketing strategy. For the audience who were not interested in watching the movie, they would have connected to the promotion only as any other event, irrespective of what the movie is about,” explains Varma.
Talking about marketing genius Aamir Khan he adds, “I enjoyed his incognito tour of India independently, I would have watched the movie despite the gimmick.”
However, the elusive director this time has come up with Rann Times - a newspaper introducing his characters and a sneak peek into the movie.
Once again, Ramu is back with Amitabh Bachchan; the pair has already delivered box office hits with Sarkar and Sarkar Raj. “He was the only choice for the role of Vijay Harshavardhan Malik. I wanted someone who can portray the purity, the ethics and a believability for the role. Sarkar wouldn’t have been possible without him, same goes with Rann,” says RGV, adding that a person with larger-than-life image could only have done justice to the role of the media mogul Vijay Harshavardhan Malik.
Most of Ram Gopal Varma’s movies manages to grab the headlines, in most cases not for the right reasons and Rann is no exception. After a series of movies like Nishabd and Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag that hit the dust, his production house called Factory has also been ridiculed for churning movies, some not even with his signature style. But unfazed by criticism this maverick film director says, “I feel criticisms are opinions. It does not make a difference. I make movies for myself. I can’t predict how well it will be accepted. Everything I do counts as an experience and makes me who I am. A film is a series of ideas and stories.”
But what about all his movies that reveal the darker side of life? “It depends on the state of mind and intention. I like hard-hitting movies, which make a strong statement and compel people to think. If they are called dark then so be it,” says the director.
The nonconformist movie maker has successfully delved into Tollywood and churned out hits like Shiva and Kshana Kshanam.
“Actors in Bollywood experiment a lot with their roles but down south the top actors stick to formulaic movies in most cases led by the audience demands,”says RGV, who feels the multiplex culture has brought in a revolution in Bollywood, where movies with varied subjects are being made instead of the run-of-the-mill ones.
Ram Gopal Varma, often eccentric media shy director, has found a new outlet to interact with his fans though his blog. “Blog is where I can interact with the audience directly without the interference of a journalist and it’s also a place where I can meet other weirdoes like me,” says RGV giving that rare smile.
“You will either like the movie or hate it,” says Ram Gopal Varma as he sign off.
sohini@expressbuzz.com