Ramu comes clean | Film

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Ram Gopal Varma, revered as a filmmaker in the 90s, fell from grace after his over-the-top adaptation of Sholay drew universal ire and was an unprecedented failure. In Guns & Thighs, the controversial director clears the air and offers his unique perspective on matters of cinema and more.

do you know

• Before becoming a successful director, Ramu was in the video rental business and consequently spent some time behind bars for video piracy which was rampant in the 80s and 90s.
• Ramu credits his video shop days with his start as a director (which led to films like Rangeela, Satya, Koon, Mast, Jungle, Company, Bhoot, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj).
• Although Varma did not reveal his reasons for making brutal films like Satya 2, Bhoot Returns, Contract, Department and Not a Love Story, he apologized to fans as all these films failed to captivate the audience.
• His collaborators or discoveries include names like Anurag Kashyap, Shamit Amin, Shri Ram Raghavan and Vishal Bhardwaj.

That The director may be behind some of the worst films ever produced in the history of cinema but there was a time when Ram Gopal Varma’s name was synonymous with success and quality. Before he fell from grace as a storyteller with Ram Gopal Varma’s disastrous films like Aag, Phonic, Ayat, Department, Bhoot Returns and Satya 2, Varma gave countless hits, a few in the 90s. Performed by the directors. . That’s one reason Ramu’s quip about his career is worth listening to. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll give a provocative hit and climb the ladder back to the hot commodity level!

Before you go any further, let me remind you that Guns & Thighs is not a biography of Ramgopal Varma. The 54-year-old director felt he had to ‘do what he had to do’ and wrote the book to clarify matters.

He talks about the biggest failure of his career – the Sholay remake – and also criticizes journalists who write about it without doing enough enquiry. He clarified that he never criticized Amitabh Bachchan or Aamir Khan (as reported in the newspapers). Using his traditional wit and honesty, he delivers a narrative that would do its author proud.

In this book, readers will learn how Ramu deals with things like his ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude that prevented him from working with Khans (except Aamir who starred in Rangeela), his Great decision. Casting a sweaty, bearded man in Satya (a gamble that paid off as the film is now considered a cult classic) and his self-confidence saw him but not without RGV’s fiery defeat. The fight after

If you’re wondering why the book is called Guns & Thighs, it’s Verma’s way of paying tribute to Amitabh Bachchan’s “guns” and Sridevi’s “thighs” — two people he considers inspirational. . Varma shares how he always wanted to work with the two in films and his reaction when he finally got the chance to meet them. He gives viewers a glimpse of his process like how he convinced actors like Amitabh Bachchan to act in challenging films like Nishabad and Sarkar.

As the book progresses, we learn about many events that shaped Ramgopal Varma as a person. He tells anecdotes and stories such as the advice given by his grandfather that he never followed or his decision to reinvent the flame, tough though tough decisions that established him as a passionate filmmaker. Helped to do.

While there’s a lot of cinematic dialogue on offer, thankfully, Varma stays away from mentioning his early days and things like what he did in school because that’s the kind of director Ramu is.

By reading this book we know that Ramu was always different from others. But what is worth noting is how candid he is on various topics such as apologizing to Ismail Darbar (within the book) for not keeping his promise.

Reasons for making good and bad films are also explored. Ramu explains his actions and offers insight into his reasoning. We know why he was forced to make a prequel to Shiva which blew up at the box office.

His admission about a female construction worker he (and his friends) had his eye on in college is something for front-benchers, while the revelation that she was running a gang in college is his gangster flick. is fodder for fans and also explains why his gangster movies are so appealing and feel close to reality.

Some deeply personal, albeit tragic moments are also explored as Verma notes her own level of distress when she has to break the news of her father’s death to her mother.

On a final note, it is important to add that while some may find the content of the book too similar to RGV interviewing RGV or take issue with its unflinching honesty, it is ultimately the work of a man who is an approach that has seen great success and spectacular failure. Ultimately, his RGV story and how he presents it is up to him.