Making a film centred on a woman, when testosterone-driven vehicles rule the roost — check. Exploring the complex, grey shades of relationships in an industry that’s largely driven by good vs. evil, — check. Take that film to a point of box office success and countless conversations about its thematic resonance — check. With The Girlfriend, the Rashmika Mandanna-fronted relationship drama, writer-director Rahul Ravindran has managed to do something very rare in Telugu cinema: turn heads, initiate discussions, and make a genuine cultural impact in popular cinema discourse.
TNIE catches up with the National Award-winning filmmaker, as he reflects on the whole-hearted acceptance his film has been met with by the audience, the genesis of the story, his growing-up years, the significance of undoing the male gaze in cinema, and more.
Excerpts
What is your current state of mind, seeing the reception to the film?
It’s been six years since my last release Manmadhudu 2, and that one didn’t go well. So, it’s nice to receive appreciation again. It’s also been slightly strange because both Rashmika and I keep getting these messages with really personal stories about their personal ordeals, and what the film’s done for them. Some of it has been heartbreaking and very heavy to digest, and you realise the responsibility you have as a filmmaker. It’s been very overwhelming.
Why did you feel it was essential to make this film?
There were two separate incidents. When I was in college, I had a friend, a sweet guy whose girlfriend broke up with him. For next few days, he went into 'Devdas' mode, breaking things, drinking through the night. One night, he wrote the girl’s number on the wall, and wrote, ‘for sex: contact'. He was angry, hurt, and raging. We know there was no point trying to rationalise with him; if we anatagonised him, there would be nobody left to control him. He was a great guy who was now making bad choices. Having been his friend, I knew it didn’t define him, but it had far reaching consequences.
Many years later, I was neutrally observing this movement in Indian cinema where 'Devdases' were now becoming soup boys, movies which were glorifying their rage. The difference between a soup boy and a Devdas is that while a Devdas destroys his own life, a soup boy says, 'I will destroy my own life but will also make you suffer because you brought this suffering upon me'. This began getting spun into righteous revenge. That used to make me very uncomfortable.
Ironically, Vikram’s character came first in my head when I was trying to put these two together and develop a story. As weird as it may sound, I want to make a film that turns the camera the other way and makes people uncomfortable rather than have them whistling and clapping. I wrote Vikram with empathy. I understand he was raised in a certain environment and is at an age where he's not going to know any better. I want to make a film that hopefully makes five Vikrams in the theater go back home and reflect.
Today, it has become so much more than I anticipated. So many women and men came to me, saying that it was a healing experience for them. Rashmika anticipated it — she kept saying, 'I don't think you get a full sense of what this is going to do to women who watch this film'. I realised what she meant now. What more can you ask for when you tell a story that moves people courage and strength?
What do you think is the psychology behind this behaviour by young men?
I won’t say it has changed. It’s just that filmmakers or storytellers, till a certain era, chose not to push those stories. The easiest weapon when a boy is dumped is to slutshame a girl. It comes from the inability to digest that she is no more yours. That’s textbook narcissistic behaviour. Yet, I was trying to understand that character without judgment. If you sit down and have a conversation, they can be prodded out of it. I think we have achieved that. So many men have come upto me and said, ‘I promise to be a better man, a better boyfriend’.
Do you think the audience has been responding empathetically to Vikram’s character?
This is Bhooma’s story, and Vikram is the villain of her story. There’s no doubt. That doesn’t mean you can’t write your villain with empathy. Here, my intention wasn’t to humiliate or antagonise the Vikrams and say, ‘You are a bad person’. I wanted to say, ‘I understand that at this age, you’re not going to know any better’.
Where do you think parents are going wrong?
I always believe that the more personal you go, the more universal a story becomes. I am so grateful to my parents for giving me a very normal childhood. I was the elder sibling, and they treated me like an adult and with respect. They would let me make me make all my decisions, and then have me face the consequences. That way, I became a very self-confident adult who could express himself. This is what I mean by a normal childhood, where wrong things were not normalised for me, unlike a Vikram.
The more I observe people, the more I realize that all our psychological scars and everything we need to heal from everything goes back to childhood. Chinmayi (playback singer) and I have become parents just three years back, and the one thing we keep discussing with each other is how we need to give our children a normal childhood. If I love my wife, I make it a point to express that in front of my children because I want them to grow that it’s expected by your partner so that they don't settle for less in their relationships.
A few people found it extreme how Bhoom’s father speaks to her, and uses such strong language about her character…
I'm glad that debate is happening. That is all you can hope for as a filmmaker. I have only made a film to make people think and start conversations, not to change people.
Those probably can’t imagine being like that to their daughters or sons. But if you ask the number of women who have been character assassinated by their parents. You will be shocked. It is many people's lived reality. I’ve heard parents say far worse things to their kids. Bhooma is at a stage in her life, where she is neither a child nor an adult. It is very difficult for a parent to suddenly give up control and to treat kids as adults. That phase tends to get the worst out of them.
How do you decide what theme to work on?
For me, the theme doesn't come first. It’s either something I see or I experience myself, and go, 'this is something there that I want to tell'. Then I ask myself why do I find it interesting. It's at that point that the things fall in place. A genre or market is never the motivation. It's very abstract.
Here, I wanted to make a film that makes Vikrams go home and think about what they're doing. The phrase ‘toxic relationships’ didn't exist when I first thought of this idea, but I want to explore what it is to have your identity slowly erased in a relationship. Then, I thought what should Bhooma be like. That’s how all themes felt into place.
Could you recall your journey before you entered cinema?
I can’t even remember a time when I didn’t want to be a filmmaker. The dream has been there since the 7th standard. Since then, every single decision I made in my life was towards this goal. Even the decision to do my MBA was made because I needed to have a cushion to fall back on if things didn't work out in cinema. I’m not from a film family, and I have zero contacts in cinema. Luckily, I didn’t have to fall back on it.
Did your parents know about your ambitions?
For the longest time, I never told them. When I had a job in Mumbai, finished my MBA, and had also done another postgraduate diploma, that’s when I had a very serious conversation with them. I was about to be promoted to brand manager, but I was worried about life getting too comfortable if I took that promotion. My target was to save ₹1.5 lakhs and come back to Chennai to live with my parents, where those savings will help me survive one to two years. My mom was very excited and very encouraging. My dad was worried, though encouraging. I said, ‘Appa, I would be happier being a failure in cinema than a success in any other industry. So let me try this’. So, there was never too much resistance from them.
What is the hardest emotion to write and to execute?
It’s comedy. Most people who have written and directed, one will tell you that. Everything else comes from an organic space where, if you feel the emotion while making it, it’s likely that people are going to feel it, too. In comedy, the whole point is to make people laugh. It’s very reaction-oriented. Also, with comedy, once you start watching your film again and again, you stop laughing. After a point, everything begins feeling unnecessary, and that’s where you need a lot of conviction to stick to your judgment.
What’s this one storytelling rule that you never break?
There are a few personal rules that I won't break. I don't want to write any character without basic empathy. I make an effort to understand the character, which sometimes restricts me in making certain stories. Friends tell me, 'This is why you can't make a proper commercial movie where it's in blacks and whites, where it's like one high after another'.
Another rule is I don't want to have a male gaze coming through in my films. Even if that gaze persists, I want it to be respectful. It doesn’t mean all women in my films should be covered head to toe. I'm not going to train you where to look — that is what I mean by a male gaze. Because I think that repeatedly, over time, when we keep consuming the male gaze, it affects how we look at women. Especially for men who don't have meaningful relationships with women in their lives, they end up looking at women as mere objects of sexual desire. That male gaze in the culture, and the art that we consume feeds into that.
When you finish writing a script, do you have narrate it to others?
I have a habit of sending my scripts to some people after I’ve written 10 pages. I ask them, ‘Is this engaging for you? Am I setting this up right? Is it predictable?’ Once I finish my first draft, I send it to seven to eight others to understand if everything I intend is getting conveyed. Once I finish my final draft, I send it to a few more. I don’t necessarily make all the changes that everybody throws at me, but that feedback helps me understand a few things. ‘How many people is this going to work for? How niche or accessible is it going to be?’ If I believe in it, I stick to my guns, but I consider scaling down the budgeting.
Do you discuss your scripts with Chinmayi?
I usually get her to read my scripts after I have written 20 pages, for a woman’s point of view. I don’t want women to say ‘he didn’t get us at all’. I share with a few other female friends too. She finished reading the script for The Girlfriend, and she felt so claustrophobic and triggered. I literally forced her to finish reading the script, but she said, ‘I will never watch this film’. She still hasn’t watched it.
How do you navigate the pressure that comes with having a National Award to your credit?
The only pressure I faced as a National Award winner is to give producers the assurance that ‘Don’t worry, I will make mainstream films that will work’. (laughs) I am grateful, and it’s the highest acknowledgment you can get as a creator in this country. But it’s almost like a burden to carry. At the end of the day, I am a mainstream filmmaker. The film (Chi La Sow) I won it for, as well as The Girlfriend, are not exactly commercial, but both were profitable films. So, in that sense, I think people now trust me that I am a mainstream filmmaker.
I think the biggest joy in having won The National Award was seeing the pride and joy on my wife’s and my parents’ faces. My dad couldn't control his pride and, and my mom was teary-eyed. And my wife, she has this specific look on her face when somebody is appreciating me — I can't even describe it. When she has that look on her face, to me, she is the most beautiful woman on this planet. So that is the greatest Joy.
You seem more busy with acting now, than directing...
(laughs) Its like that Allu Arjun dialogue, ‘I didn’t take a gap. It came to me’. Actually, after Manmadhudu 2, I wanted to take a break and reflect. I started The Girlfriend script in January 2020. Two months later, COVID struck. In February 2021, I signed with Geetha Arts, and Rashmika came on board in June 2021. The break just happened. Priority has always been direction. I act only when I have time. I enjoy being on a set and observing other directors. Just when Chi La Sow started, I took a conscious call to not accept any lead roles. Unless it’s a very experimental role or takes up a maximum of 20-25 days to shoot, I am not interested. Like in Shyama Singha Roy, I got to play a 92-year-old character. I thought it will be fun to do that, where I also learned about prosthetics.
How do you respond to the trolls?
You just learn to deal with it maturely and move past it. I'm a very secure man because of how my parents raised me. You can tell me anything you want; I will go back home and think about it. What is important is what my wife thinks of me, my parents and friends think of me. When others attack the people that you love and care for, that is difficult to digest. I have a wife who's perfectly capable of fighting her own battles. And I'm very proud of her. There's one tweet about my children. For about half an hour, 45 minutes. I became a very different human being, one that I haven't seen in many years within. hopefully I'll never see a tweet like that again.
How did you respond to Manmadhudu 2 criticism?
It went beyond criticism. I got a lot of hate for it. Initially I had a very emotional reaction to it. When instead of constructive criticism, there is hate thrown at you, it’s difficult to process it logically. So I took a deep breath and tried to understand where I went wrong. But I have no regrets. We really enjoyed making the film. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
If you could recall one of the biggest, no, you have seen in your career and why?
I have said no to a few scripts, if they crossed a certain line. But sometimes, as actors, you are made to do things you don’t believe in, which were not part of narration. You just grin and bear it, and since a lot is at stake. However, in a film, the makers added a few scenes of physical intimacy after shooting the film in the name of patch work. I agreed initially, but when I came to know the female actor is scared and isn’t comfortable, I rejected to shoot them.
Also, I said no to not making The Girlfriend because a lot of people told me it wouldn't work, but I said no to not making it. I said, I am going to go ahead and make it.
If you could change one thing about Indian cinema, what would it be?
I don’t have grand plans like that. But one change I would want, and what SS Rajamouli sir has successfully managed, is that Indian cinema should be consumed around the country. He’s managed to not just barge through that door, but take a cannon and decimate that door, opening it for everyone. If we manage to unite our audiences and make it one marketplace, our potential is staggering, with the kind of budgets we can afford and stories we can tell.
What kind of films do you want to make, going forward?
I've already signed my next two films. for one, I have finished two drafts. For the other, the story is ready. There is another story that I've developed, which I have pitched to Rashmika, and she loved the idea. At some point, hopefully we'll be doing that film together.