ram gopal varma

transcript of live chat conducted on thu oct 07, 1999
ram gopal varma on movies, masti, and ummmm....
film-maker (rangeela, satya, mast, shool...)

moderator welcome mr. varma....we are glad you could make it....and hope you have fun...

shyamal mr. varma what exactly do you think are the responsibilities of a director ?
ram gopal: varma syamal : the directors primary responsibility is to entertain the audience. through the process of entertainment if he manages to pack in a message, well and good. but not at the cost of missing out on the holding power of the film.
aeschylus what kind of a film is mast apart from being a romantic comedy? what else is there to expect?
ram gopal: varma aeschylus : mast is basically a fairy tale kind of a story told in almost a musical kind of a form. it’s a guys obsession for a film actress whose 2 dimensional image projected on the screen makes him to fall in love with her. but actual reality...
moderator please click on 'send to speaker' to send your questions to ram gopal varma....
ram gopal: varma ...of the actress behind the image is nothing to do with the fantasy personality created in his mind. mast examines the relationship between that.
milind desai sir, why did you include songs in movies like daud, satya or drohi???? songs were not required
ram gopal: varma milind desai : somewhere partly for commercial constraints and somewhere partly owing to my confusion of how much i can deviate from the accepted norms of the so called commercial film making.
shyamal how do you manage to handle people acting for the first time ? what are the usual problems? do you think it is right to say a director can bring anything out of him or her ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : most of the time i do casting on the basis of either they look the part or i am already aware of their potential. the director can create a frame for an element. he can’t create the element. so, in effect he can brief the actor or actress what he wants. but between the action and cut its completely upto them. for e.g. in rangeela when urmila is dancing on the beach, i can create the right composition to show her waist swaying to the music.....
moderator please send your questions to ram and he will.....answer them!!!
ram gopal: varma ...but i can't create her waistline. i can tell manoj bajpai that i want to feel a kind of an wild animal lurking behind bhiku mhatres civilized exterior like his clothes / home etc. but i can't create the looks...
ram gopal: varma in his eyes that belongs to manoj bajpai.





milind desai sir.. you have some of the brilliant steadycam sequences in movies like shiva, daud... why are they for so little time?? why can't they be like in those brian de palma movies??
ram gopal: varma milind desai : partly is due to that we do not have such good operators here in india. and also, because the atmosphere of shooting is not as much in control.
shyamal do you think the indian censor board is an obstacle ? if yes, in what ways ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : it is an obstacle in a way that the guidelines are not very clear. they are very arbitrary in nature. it completely depends upon the individual committee member’s perception of what they think is right and wrong. it needs to be defined how they can judge the sensibilities of the millions of people across the country.
moderator we are chatting live with ace filmmaker ram gopal varma today...at indiatimes chat....
manoj bajpai r u married ramu?
ram gopal: varma manoj bajpai : i was..
korn hi ramu, what happened to your satya hero chakravorthy? he seems to have been eclipsed by bhiku mhatre. are you going to give him another break?
ram gopal: varma korn : i don't make films to give anybody a break. i take anybody who i think is right for the film.
smriti do you get the jitters the day your film is set for release, or you know beforehand that it will be a success?
ram gopal: varma smiriti : if i know beforehand. why would i make a daud //winking
shyamal mr. varma , everyone has certain professional aspirations ... what are yours ? what is that one film you want to direct, with whom you want to work ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : any film that i am doing at the moment is my aspiration. and that's the one that i would like to make.
pradeep your greatest contribution is u have given many talented directors a chance. what do you look for in young directors?
ram gopal: varma pradeep : it's a little difficult to answer here. but mostly it'll be due to my association with him over a period of time where i would notice a potential or that someone may just impress me with their narrative capability.
indianranger how did u start mast? what was basic idea behind making a movie with a new hero?
ram gopal: varma indianranger : mast is about an ordinary guy falling in love with a film star. it goes with out saying that the guys role should be played by somebody new because, the premise would not be believable if an established star falls in love with a film star.
moderator we are chatting live with ram gopal varma.....hope you all are having a 'mast' time chatting with him....
shyamal is piracy affecting the industry ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : ya, it certainly does.
bhiku mathre mr. varma, how different is mast from rangeela, because the previews really make it look like it is in the same lines as rangeela?
ram gopal: varma bhiku mathre : i don't think there's any connection between rangeela and mast.
sunny1 ramuji don't you feel when good movies like 1947 earth, hututu, kaun fails who will make good movies
ram gopal: varma sunny1 : good movies in matter of opinion. since you've failed to mentioned daud i thought it was a good movie myself. //winking
shyamal mr. varma who is the best director in the industry today ? is it very difficult to judge somebody as best ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : shekhar kapoor .
milind desai sir as a producer don't you think that actors/actress should be paid a percentage of profit rather than a lumpsum amount???? it will determine their respective position in the market
ram gopal: varma milind desai : i think it’s to do with the economies of the particular project which would determine this. its not that it’s not being done.
mitesh ramuji i have some scripts to narrate to you ! how can i do that ?
ram gopal: varma mitesh : the right time to do that is when i make a flop.
ramtajogi mr. varma...can you tell me something about your cinematographers and film editors? their techniques seem completely different from the usual technicians in the industry. i am specifically talking about the amazing editing by bhanodaya and camerawork in satya...what do you find most appealing about their styles?
ram gopal: varma ramtajogi : most of the technique evolves from the nature of the particular project. it’s going to be very difficult to separate the style of any individual technicians.
chinmay what do you feel about the recent trend of low budget films like hyd-blues, kaun, etc failing to attract "masses" ,say, as govinda films do?
ram gopal: varma chinmay : it’s to do more with the kind of cost that the film is made. so to that extent both hyd. blues and kaun had done well.
milind desai sir... why don't you once again defy the laws of bollywood and make a romantic hindi movie with no songs???
ram gopal: varma milind desai : i'll do it as soon as i have 2 or 3 hits in a row.
leather_and_lace what is your idea of a good movie? music, sex, scandal or just plain 'in you face subjects'? lately so many movies are just fighting it out with censor boards. when do the people get a choice of what they want to see?
ram gopal: varma leather_and_lace : i think, me and you want to see the same in movies.
korn ramu did you feel that satya should've got the best film award and manoj bajpai the best supporting actor instead of salman? i did think so.
ram gopal: varma korn : it’s the opinion of the committee members who are selected. so what can i say about that //frowny
ramtajogi mr. varma...i have read that you have no formal education in the field of filmmaking...how true is this? how important do you feel formal education in this field is to be successful?
ram gopal: varma ramtajogi : formal education is absolutely un-important. filmmaking is at the end of the day just an art of telling a story. how well you do it is the only required thing.
shyamal do you think amitabh is not in his true self now ? who is the best replacement for him ?
ram gopal: varma shyamal : there can be no replacement for amitabh.
curious_kamal ramgopaljee what do u think about manoj vajpayee whom amitabh bachan quoted as being a better actor than him
ram gopal: varma manoj bajpai is great but, amitabh is the greatest.
raajaa hi ramu, what are your next projects, after mast and shool ?
ram gopal: varma raajaa : i haven’t yet decided.
ramtajogi mr. varma...how did you discover sandeep chowta? he is absolutely amazing! how much of a role did you as the director play in the way the background score of satya shaped up?
ram gopal: varma ramtajogi : i met sandeep chowta through a common friend. i had a very little role to play in the background score of satya. it was completely his interpretation.
shyam gopal bajaj ramu, does a director have to have a muse and fall in love with his heroine to make a convincing film? subhash ghai says so?
ram gopal: varma shyam gopal bajaj : who would be my muse in satya ? chakravarthy //exclaim
sunny1 ramuji why did premakatha fail?
ram gopal: varma sunny1 : because it was a bad film.
iitian what do u think is the future of hindi film industry which thinks that a film is a hit only if it has a good music
ram gopal: varma iitian : it will face the music someday.
meera in which lang. do u feel more interested to make a film?
ram gopal: varma meera : hindi.
shyam gopal bajaj mr. ramu, i am a horror movie buff and i think that raat was absolutely brilliant and very very scary, when are you going to make a truly big budget horror flick like they do in hollywood? i hope the failure of raat will not deter you.
ram gopal: varma shyam gopal bajaj : on the contrary the greatest ambition in my life is to make a successful horror film.
meera why
ram gopal: varma meera .. its because i think the talent in hindi is far more superior.
curious_kamal ramu do you think the indian cinema is poised for a big change since we are not having too many good movies
ram gopal: varma curious_kamal : somehow, myself and david dhavan would try to avert the catastrophe //smiley
kamaindra r u interested or under planning to make a remake of any old classics or a successful story to recreate with ur magic in near future please share with us
ram gopal: varma kamaindra : right now i am not.
curious_kamal ram how would u like to compare the hollywood and the bollywood
ram gopal: varma curious_kamal : there's no comparison. hollywood is far superior.
ramtajogi mr. varma....finally.....you haven’t worked with the great a.r. rahman after rangeela and daud...do you plan any projects together in the future? i felt yours really was a killer team!
ram gopal: varma ramtajogi : since we killed everybody with our daud. we thought we'll take a break from each other for sometime.
ramtajogi mr. varma...how much inspiration did you draw from alfred hitchcock's films while making kaun? did you try to use any of his techniques he usually used? if so..which ones?
ram gopal: varma ramtajogi : i must have taken a lot from him and plenty of other directors.
moderator last question for ram....
shyam gopal bajaj please please make another horror movie say yes
ram gopal: varma shayam gopal bajaj : yes!!
moderator we would like to thank ram for being here with us today....hope the room had fun....
ram gopal: varma to all : nice chatting with you guys.. thank you very very much.