Ram Gopal Varma on being his authentic self, inspirations, thoughts on commercial cinema, and more…
Edited excerpts:
When you ask a lot of filmmakers why they wanted to be a filmmaker, they might mention something like Lawrence of Arabia or Satya. What was yours?
Deep inside, a filmmaker’s primary intention should be to tell a story. In my early memories, I remember watching a film and then narrating its story to my friends. When they saw it later, they told me my version was better, which could be because I changed some things in the way I wanted to see it. I frequently feel that way when I see a film, a change could be made here or there. I think that desire to see something the way I wanted it led me to my desire to be a filmmaker. And then, there are movies like The Godfather, The Sound of Music, and The Exorcist that caught my fascination. Â
What do you think about all the older actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, or Shah Rukh Khan making blockbusters again?
This goes back to the 70s. If you look at the first time the words ‘masala film’ or ‘commercial potboiler’ were used back then for certain films… that genre will never die. People love to feel high. That kind of cinema will never fail if done right. To give you an example of a hotel: if it has nice food, say, a Chicken Kurma, you’ll never tire of eating it if served every day. So, the familiarity of the emotion is essential for a commercial blockbuster. William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, said that film is an emotional experience and, often, it’s the story that will play spoilsport. The chances of failure are much higher when trying to tell a new story. A new thing can disorient me. I strongly believe that. I won’t be able to make something like KGF because I won’t have that conviction; it won’t come naturally from within me.
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