I have a list of embarrassing films, says RGV

Ram Gopal Varma is no stranger to controversies or gimmicks. The prolific filmmaker who got thrashed for his trashy remake of Sholay returns with two new films this year that couldn’t be more different – Agyaat, a horror film, and Rann, a comment on the media.

Varma is currently facing the heat for putting out his own version of the National Anthem as a promotional video for Rann. But he insists this is no gimmick.

Excerpts from the interview:

Rajeev Masand: It seems to me as if nothing is sacred to you. Why would you fool around with the National Anthem to promote your film?

Ram Gopal Varma: See, I fundamentally disagree with the word fooling around. Now what does the word ‘fooling around’ mean? If I ridicule the anthem or try to demean it or show it in a bad light or make a joke out of it, then you can use the word fooling around.

The whole point in Tagore’s National Anthem is this is how the country should be and what it should represent. And the media and the politicians also exactly know what the country is going through. So I thought it would be interesting to basically use the National Anthem as a platform to draw attention to the state of our country.

Rajeev Masand: Why is so much of filmmaking today a gimmick?

Ram Gopal Varma: I don’t know if the word is gimmick. See if someone asks me if I am doing it for publicity then I would say, yes. As a filmmaker it is my job to draw attention to my work, what the film is about and get the point across to as many people as possible. So in course of that if you want to call it a gimmick, effect or to grab eyeballs or whatever the intention is then I suppose it is okay.

In the case of Jan Gan Rann, I don’t think it is a gimmick. The film is about the media, which is a communication point between the people and the power of the country. So to that extent more or less that is what the content of the film is about. And I think the song represents what the film is about.

Rajeev Masand: I think I speak for all your true blue fans when I say that one is looking forward to your return to form – the original, gritty, RGV films. Will Rann be that?

Ram Gopal Varma: Somebody made a very interesting comment. He said I am waiting for the day when David Dhawan will make a serious film and Ram Gopal Varma will make a film seriously. (laughs) I think I made Rann very seriously. I don’t think I have ever been this serious. But it is not to say that I have done enough of fooling around and it is time to pull up my socks. It is not that. I think the very subject matter itself demands that.

I think eventually any film is as serious as the content it deals with. Like in Aag, the very idea of a remake of Sholay is frivolous. So the film will be as bad or as good as the idea at the end of the day. Satya was a serious film because it dealt with the dark side of the underworld. So you can’t make a Satya even if you want to frivolously.

Rajeev Masand: There is also the small horror film Agyaat that we will see soon. I am very interested in the fact that after Kaun, Bhoot, Phoonk and Darna Mana Hai you still have scary stories to tell.

Ram Gopal Varma: I was always fascinated by this genre of this set of people trapped in certain situations and something is out kill them. So for me Agyaat is more of a psychological thriller. It is about a film unit that goes to a forest and gets trapped. Why I chose a film unit is because it has hierarchical differences. There is a star, spotboy, assistant director – all of them are coming from different statuses but the moment something starts killing them one by one their fear of death erases the hierarchical differences and makes them all human, as big or small as each one of them.

It is about their real personalities which come out.

Apart from that I wanted to shoot in a jungle because the creatures or whatever that is killing them is something that we never get to see. Ridley Scott in his interview had once said that if you go to a new place and experience something strange then it is not necessary that you understand what is causing it. If you understand it then you lose the thrill of it.

Now if you go to a haunted house and hear a ghunguroo sound or some kind of scream then you feel the thrill of it but if I sit and tell you that this house belonged to some guy called Ram Lal and he was married to Madhumati then it is not the same thing anymore. So I thought it will be challenging to create a suspense film with tension and terror but actually not tell what is creating it.

Rajeev Masand: Which is one film of yours that you are most embarrassed about?

Ram Gopal Varma: There are too many I think. If I start counting then I don’t think this interview will have enough time.

Rajeev Masand: Thank you so much for talking to us.

Ram Gopal Varma: Thank you.

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