<p>Psychological thrillers, underworld gang warfare, horror flicks and politician-criminal nexus. Such are his experimental films. His name is associated with dramas that audiences fail to understand but his tryst with filmmaking, continues unabated! <br /><br /></p>.<p>He is director, screen writer and producer, Ram Gopal Varma who was in the City to promote The Attacks of 26/11. Metrolife caught RGV (as he is fondly referred) in a candid chat to reveal his conviction for filmmaking, consistency in experimentation and equation with ‘fear’.<br /><br />Today, when audiences have a vast choice of cinema, RGV manages to grab their attention with different subject matter. He feels it is how you shoot and package a story that makes a film work. “Sometimes it might not work but my intention is to always make them work.”<br /><br /> In the process, going back doesn’t work for him. “Even if you go back and in case you think you can learn from your mistakes through analysis and carry the learning into the next film, you will only end up making new mistakes. Eventually, you have to make a film with conviction. Whatever good, bad and ugly films I have made, I felt they were right at that time, maybe not <br />later!”<br /><br />It is this conviction that makes RGV overlook his critics as he feels he knows best about what went wrong and where, in his creation. People <br />often say that they didn’t like his film but it doesn’t annoy him. <br /><br />“We live in a free country. A lot of time I say something nasty about a film and so do others. In my film, I know what they are saying and the reason they give for it is incorrect. They are trying to speculate but only I know what went wrong. After Sachin (Tendulkar) goes out, everybody can tell him what went wrong even if they don’t know how to hold the bat!”<br /><br />It is not just his reality but even his horror flicks scare the hell out of people. “I like to scare people! Its a big high to just put people inside a theatre, close the doors, put off the lights and scare them! I think it is something that people enjoy deep down. Otherwise why would they watch a horror film?”<br /><br />What scared RGV most though was to present 26/11 correctly. “The kind of research that I have done. I just didn’t want to spoil it and was working with fear. Fear of preserving the sanctity of the people who shared their trauma with me.” But is he sure that gruesome reality won’t repel audiences? “There is an old saying that a wife is the last to know about her husband’s affair. Here, the film is the husband, the audience or box office is the other woman and I am the wife!”<br /><br />For most it is difficult to survive in the industry with such sheer passion. But RGV is a class apart! “Everyone makes a choice of how they want to live and the way they want to go. I made the choice of making films, that I want to make. To me, neither critical acclaim matters nor commercial success matter, but the latter is required and necessary for the industry to keep working.”<br /></p>
<p>Psychological thrillers, underworld gang warfare, horror flicks and politician-criminal nexus. Such are his experimental films. His name is associated with dramas that audiences fail to understand but his tryst with filmmaking, continues unabated! <br /><br /></p>.<p>He is director, screen writer and producer, Ram Gopal Varma who was in the City to promote The Attacks of 26/11. Metrolife caught RGV (as he is fondly referred) in a candid chat to reveal his conviction for filmmaking, consistency in experimentation and equation with ‘fear’.<br /><br />Today, when audiences have a vast choice of cinema, RGV manages to grab their attention with different subject matter. He feels it is how you shoot and package a story that makes a film work. “Sometimes it might not work but my intention is to always make them work.”<br /><br /> In the process, going back doesn’t work for him. “Even if you go back and in case you think you can learn from your mistakes through analysis and carry the learning into the next film, you will only end up making new mistakes. Eventually, you have to make a film with conviction. Whatever good, bad and ugly films I have made, I felt they were right at that time, maybe not <br />later!”<br /><br />It is this conviction that makes RGV overlook his critics as he feels he knows best about what went wrong and where, in his creation. People <br />often say that they didn’t like his film but it doesn’t annoy him. <br /><br />“We live in a free country. A lot of time I say something nasty about a film and so do others. In my film, I know what they are saying and the reason they give for it is incorrect. They are trying to speculate but only I know what went wrong. After Sachin (Tendulkar) goes out, everybody can tell him what went wrong even if they don’t know how to hold the bat!”<br /><br />It is not just his reality but even his horror flicks scare the hell out of people. “I like to scare people! Its a big high to just put people inside a theatre, close the doors, put off the lights and scare them! I think it is something that people enjoy deep down. Otherwise why would they watch a horror film?”<br /><br />What scared RGV most though was to present 26/11 correctly. “The kind of research that I have done. I just didn’t want to spoil it and was working with fear. Fear of preserving the sanctity of the people who shared their trauma with me.” But is he sure that gruesome reality won’t repel audiences? “There is an old saying that a wife is the last to know about her husband’s affair. Here, the film is the husband, the audience or box office is the other woman and I am the wife!”<br /><br />For most it is difficult to survive in the industry with such sheer passion. But RGV is a class apart! “Everyone makes a choice of how they want to live and the way they want to go. I made the choice of making films, that I want to make. To me, neither critical acclaim matters nor commercial success matter, but the latter is required and necessary for the industry to keep working.”<br /></p>
