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"I am planning to make a love story now"
Ram Gopal Varma has no time for niceties. Bollywood’s enfant terrible likes to say it like it is, and it is no different in his movies. Genres and formulae fly in the face of Ramu’s cinematic expression, and it is possibly part of the charm. RGV gets candid, like he is wont to, with Nishita Mahajan…
NISHITA MAHAJAN | Issue Dated: October 28, 2012, New Delhi
Tags : RAM GOPAL VERMA | BHOOT RETURNS | URMILA MATONDKAR... |
Tags : RAM GOPAL VERMA | BHOOT RETURNS | URMILA MATONDKAR... |
From being an engineer to owning a video rental library to donning the director’s hat… How did it happen?
Well, with time, all these dimensions became more like a means to get me where I am now. Everything seemed to work towards a certain goal I had set for myself…. I always knew I wanted to be a director.
Were your parents supportive of your dream?
Oh, yes! My father was very supportive of my decision but my mother was not so much. As a mother, she was very concerned about whether things will work out for me in the future. So, that would bother her a lot.
Quentin Tarantino has also worked in a DVD rental store. Are there other similarities you think you share with him?
I think not, because we are very different as film makers, and secondly, it is not only Tarantino; I know a lot many people who have come from the video rental business because eventually the love for cinema would drive them into businesses related to films in one way or another.
Thriller movies are your forte, so did you not anticipate risk in the making of experimental movies like Aag, Rann, Naach or Road?
When I start with a film, I do n’t think of it as an experiment. If you feel that what you are making is not something people would turn up to watch, then it will be difficult for me to make it. So I would rather believe that people want to see something like this, and I want to see something like this. For me there is no such thing as a forte; I’m equally interested in all kind of subject matters.
Rangeela and Mast were light hearted love stories. Any plans to go back to that?
I definitely have more interest in darker and high intensity films compared to the light-hearted entertainers. But I am planning to go back and to make a love story now.
Why this inclination for darker and high intensity stuff…
I would not say that it reflects anything about me as a person, but definitely about my personal interests. More than a family theme or a rom-com or some silly stupid teenage love-story, I will be interested more in films which are larger than life and are more impactful and powerful.
How do you choose your subject matter?
Whatever interests me at a given point of time is what I focus on and I do that with all my conviction. I think I was born to make films and this is what I want to do throughout my life.
Anurag Basu says he would not be directing films that he hasn’t written. How difficult is it to execute someone else’s vision for the screen?
There are two ways of looking at it. One is that a director might want to own-up the emotions, and he conceives the characters in accordance. Another director could look at the script and interpret the characters and emotions in his unique way. It’s much more to do with the sensibility of the individual we are talking about.
These days you are often tweeting about Karan Johar’s upcoming movie, Student of the Year… How are your relations with him now?
I never had problems with Karan Johar. I think it was the media who built up the whole thing. I have never said a single word against him. It was the media which constantly read things differently.
Name an actor with who you share your best actor-director chemistry.
I think it would be Amitabh Bachchan because I’ve done a number of movies with him and he is such a versatile actor. Even at a personal level, I’m very fond of him. I also share very good chemistry with Nana Patekar.
What should we expect from your latest flick, Bhoot Returns?
You should expect to be scared!
Why not Urmila Matondkar this time? And why Manisha Koirala?
Bhoot Returns is cinematically similar to Bhoot, but apart from that there is no connection in the story or the characters. I always liked Manisha from the movie Company. I simply thought she would be perfect for this part.
Issue Dated: Feb 5, 2017
