You may admire his unsual style of filmmaking or detest his callous demeanour, but you cannot ignore Ram Gopal Varma. The maverick filmmaker has now made a comeback to the romance genre after nearly a decade, with his upcoming film 365 Days.
The film revolves around a young couple who rush into marriage only to realise that their expectations don’t match.
“365 Days is a reflection of normal relationships in real life on the screen. It showcases how emotions change after marriage. We often see people on a high before marriage, but that vanishes soon after and it becomes a suffocating experience for both,” says Ram Gopal Varma.
RGV, as he is popularly called, was involved in a bad marriage and ended up divorcing his wife Rathna. However, the director asserts that the film has no autobiography element.
“Certain angles of my personal life are involved in the film but it’s not based on my marriage. I have taken the experiences of normal couples and shown it in the film. For example, a friend of mine was in love with a woman for seven years, but his marriage couldn’t last seven days. This change in emotions after marriage is what I have tried to highlight in 365 Days,” he explains.
The director, who often creates controversy for..
his sensational remarks, recently kicked up a storm when he suggested marriage was soon going to be extinct. Explaining his position on this, RGV says, “Unlike before, women have an equal say in marriage and will also make their own choices. When both men and women in a relationship make their own choices, it becomes difficult for them to stay with one person. This probably may not be the case with everyone, but I would say majority of the people would face a similar issue,” observes RGV, who has earlier made films like Siva, Rangeela, Sathya and Sarkar.
After horror films and psychological thrillers, RGV has switched gears to romance. “When I sat down to reflect on the films I make, I realised that I’m making too many horror films. This doesn’t mean I will stop doing horror films but I have decided to try something else for a change,” observes the 53-year-old.
Revealing that subtlety is the strong suit of 365 Days, RGV says while the concept has been explored, he has added new dimensions to it. “Even the silence between two people has a significant feel to it, and there are a few cinematic touches which have never been done before in this genre,” he emphasises.
The director, who minces no words while sharing his views, is known for stirring up controversies with his sensational comments on Twitter. When asked if he does it for publicity, he says, “I engage in a discussion with my people. However, media has made it a public issue by reading my tweets and writing about them. I have not put a gun to anybody’s head and asked them to write about me,” he clarifies.
The director, who is often criticised for making terrible films, has a straightforward approach towards making a movie. “There is no big or small film. Whatever I do, I do it with passion and I don’t know the outcome of the film. For an outsider, it may seem very callous and that’s natural, but I cannot help it,” he adds, with a smile.
365 Days features Nandoo and Anaika Soti and is slated to hit screens on May 15.