Ram Gopal Varma:
Ram Gopal Varma was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India to Krishnam Raju Penmetsa and Suryavathi Raju Penmetsa.
From my parents’ perspective, I looked like a useless bum. It was the truth. I had no objective. I was just fascinated by people, so I used to study their behaviour. I was most fascinated by the bullies in my classroom. They were like gangsters for me. They had the guts to push around people, do things I couldn’t— perhaps did not even want to do myself. But I’d want a friend like that (laughs). I used to adulate them like heroes. That was my first touch with anti-socialism. Over a period of time, I developed a low-angle fascination for larger than life people. I was always a loner not because I was unhappy, but because I live away from myself, not just others. I like to study myself the way I am talking, behaving. My constant obsession with studying myself and other people is perhaps the primary motivation for me to be a filmmaker.
Varma completed BE in civil engineering from V.R.Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. Even during this period, Varma remained a film buff, through his uncle. Varma would skip classes often and watch films instead. He would watch the same film repeatedly "just to watch certain scenes which interested him. According to him, that is how he learned film direction.
After a brief stint as a site engineer, for a hotel in Hyderabad, he then put his dreams on the back burner and decided to go to Nigeria to make some money. It was at this moment that he visited a video rental library in Hyderabad. He loved the idea and decided to start one of his own at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, through which he slowly developed connections with the film world. Without being successful as a fourth assistant director in B. Gopal's film, Collector Gari Abbai, Varma directly ventured into film direction, in Nagarjuna's 1989 film Shiva.
Career in Telugu cinema:
Before Varma started his film career in the Telugu film industry, he lingered on the sets of films such as Raogaarillu and Collectorgari Abbai. His father was a sound recordist at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad which is owned by Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Varma managed to meet Nagarjuna and narrated a scene to the actor which impressed him. The result of their collaboration was a film on the criminalization of student politics - Shiva. The film was a blockbuster with Varma demonstrating his technical expertise and story-telling skills. The success of the film in Telugu led to a Hindi remake with similar success.
Varma's next film was Kshana Kshanam with Venkatesh and Sridevi which got him noticed by Bollywood critics. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Hairaan. Then he made films such as Raatri and Antham. While Gaayam with Jagapathi Babu and Anaganaga Oka Roju with J.D. Chakravarthy were successful, Govinda Govinda with Nagarjuna and Sridevi proved to be a moderate success at the box office. During this period, Varma also produced films such as Money and Money Money, and was the screen writer for Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Thiruda Thiruda.
Career in Hindi cinema:
While Varma's first successful Hindi film was the remake of Siva. His next film was Drohi. The film that really put the spotlight on him was the blockbuster Rangeela. The film won Filmfare Awards for Rahman and Shroff. The film, according to Varma, was dedicated to actress Sridevi. His next film Daud (1997), however, sank without a trace.
In 1998, Varma was an executive producer for Dil Se, directed by Mani Ratnam and starring Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala and Preity Zinta. The film won the NETPAC Award for Special Mention at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as two National Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards.
Indian Gangster Trilogy:
In 1998 came his masterpiece, the critically acclaimed Satya, a film based on the Mumbai underworld. A script written by Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla, music by Vishal Bharadwaj and Sandeep Chowta, acclaimed performances by J. D. Chakravarthy, Manoj Bajpai and Urmila Matondkar, and Varma's directorial and technical brilliance, contributed to a film that was a landmark. The film won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film.
In 2002 came his greatest commercial as well as critical success, Company, again set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, in which he cut off the song-and-dance sequences, a commonplace in Bollywood films at the time. It was based on the real-life underworld organization, the D-Company. The film won seven Filmfare Awards and earned him a Filmfare Best Director Award nomination. Mohanlal debuted in Bollywood with this film.
A prequel to Company was made in 2005, titled D, produced by Varma and directed by Vishram Sawant. Satya, Company and D are together considered an "Indian Gangster Trilogy". Satya and Company, in particular, were cited by British director Danny Boyle as influences on his Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for their "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld", their display of "brutality and urban violence", and their gritty realism.
Experimental films:
During the years between his "Indian Gangster Trilogy", from Satya in 1998 to D in 2005, Varma experimented with different film genres. In 1999, he directed Kaun, a suspense thriller set entirely in one house and featuring only three actors, and Mast, a subversion of the Hindi cinema's masala genre. In 2000, he directed Jungle, a film set entirely in a jungle, for which he was nominated for the Star Screen Award for Best Director.
Following the success of Company in 2002, Varma's next film as director was Bhoot (2003), a psychological horror film, which was a major success. It starred Ajay Devgan and Urmila Matondkar, who earned a number of awards for her performance. Varma himself was nominated for the Filmfare Best Director Award for the film.
Following the success of Bhoot, Varma produced two other experimental films: Sriram Raghavan's Ek Hasina Thi (2003), a psychological thriller, and Shimit Amin's Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), a film about an inspector in the Mumbai Encounter Squad famous for having killed 56 people in police encounters. In 2005, Varma was nominated for the Zee Cine Award for Best Producer of the Year.
Later films:
Varma's next film as director was Sarkar, released in June 2005, starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan. Amitabh played the character of Sarkar who is a self-righteous and powerful businessman cum social worker, while Abhishek played his son in the film. Sarkar was a loose adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. Sarkar went on to become a critically acclaimed box office hit.
In 2006, his next film as director was Shiva, which premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival, where a retrospective featuring several of his previous films was also staged. Alongside Shiva, the festival screened his earlier successful films Company, Ek Hasina Thi and Ab Tak Chhappan. While these three films were praised, Shiva was a critical and commercial failure. In 2007, he directed the ambitious Sholay remake, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, as well as Darling, both of which were critical and box office disasters.
He was written off by the media and public until June 2008, when he reclaimed, to some extent, his lost reputation with his much hyped venture, Sarkar Raj, a sequel to Sarkar; it was an average and met with good reviews. The primary cast featured Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan reprising their roles from the prequel alongside Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Supriya Pathak, Tanisha Mukherjee and Ravi Kale also reappeared in their respective roles from Sarkar. Unlike Sarkar, which was loosely adapted from The Godfather, Sarkar Raj had an original plot.
Phoonk (2008) was of the horror film genre and met with mixed reviews, with more of them leaning to the negative side. However, the film was a major hit in comparison to its minuscule budget. Agyaat, which released on 7 August 2009, was again a commercial as well as critical failure. Next was Rann, a film about the media. It had Amitabh Bachchan, Kannada actor Sudeep, Ritesh Deshmukh and Paresh Rawal. Released on 29 January 2010, the film was praised by some critics, but was a commercial disaster. Then he began the promotion works for Phoonk 2, a sequel of Phoonk, which was released on April 16, 2010.
Next came Rakta Charitra, a trilingual in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi languages. The movie was based upon the faction backdrop of the Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh. As the entire film lasted for about 5 hours, the film was released in two parts, with in a gap of three months. The film depicts the life of slain political leader Paritala Ravindra, played by Vivek Oberoi, with Tamil actor Surya Sivakumar, enacting the role of Maddelacheruvu Suri, Shatrughan Sinha, playing N. T. Rama Rao. Radhika Apte and Priyamani star in other pivotal roles. The film released to a good opening following Varma's clever pre-release marketing using the controversy surrounding the main characters to his advantage. A fortnight after the film's release, Maddelacheruvu Suri was shot fatally. Though the movie could not get a good reputation in Hindi and Tamil, it gained positive reviews in Telugu and the critics quoted "RGV is back".
Varma's latest release had comedian Sunil as the lead. The film was titled Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju (Story Screenplay Direction AppalRaju, when translated to English). This is said to be a satire on Telugu Film industry mainly targeting directors. A song in the film covered almost all directors like Raghavendra Rao, E.V.V, Kodi Ramakrishna, B.Gopal, S.S Rajamouli, Sreenu Vaitla, Puri Jagannadh, Vinayak and Boyapati Seenu. On 25 February 2011, Varma reportedly filed a complaint against a Telugu news channel in Hyderabad.
Varma has also announced another horror film titled Amma 3D. The film will be the first 3D horror film made in India and is reported to have Ritesh Deshmukh in a significant role.
Varma has roped in Amitabh Bachchan for the lead role in his yet to be filmed movie Department, the plot of which shall revolve around the internal politics of the police department. He has been quoted saying that this film may be considered as "the other side of Company". Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati are reportedly going to play supporting roles. It is a much anticipated collaboration of Sanjay Dutt with the director after their earlier venture "Daud".
Autobiography:
Varma wrote an autobiography titled Na Ishtam, which discusses his thoughts and opinions.
Awards:
Filmfare Awards:
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie - Satya (1998)
Filmfare Best Story Award - Rangeela (1995)
Filmfare Best Director Award (Telugu)
Shiva (1989)
Kshana Kshanam (1991)
Gaayam (1993)
Nandi Awards:
Nandi Award for Best Director
Kshana Kshanam (1991)
Prema Kadha (1999)
Bollywood Awards:
Bollywood Award for Best Director:
Satya (1998)
Jungle (2000)
Company (2002)
Bhoot (2003)
Filmography:
As director:
Year Film Language
1989 Shiva Telugu
1991 Kshana Kshanam Telugu
1992 Antham Telugu
1992 Raathri Telugu
1993 Gaayam Telugu
1993 Govinda Govinda Telugu
1995 Rangeela Hindi
1996 Deyyam Telugu
1997 Anaganaga Oka Roju Telugu
1997 Daud Hindi
1998 Satya Hindi
1999 Prema Kadha Telugu
1999 Kaun Hindi
1999 Mast Hindi
2000 Jungle Hindi
2002 Company Hindi
2003 Bhoot Hindi
2004 Naach Hindi
2005 Sarkar Hindi
2006 Shiva Hindi
2007 Nishabd Hindi
2007 Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag Hindi
2007 Darling Hindi
2008 Sarkar Raj Hindi
2008 Contract Hindi
2008 Phoonk Hindi
2009 Adavi/Agyaat Telugu/Hindi
2010 Rann Hindi
2010 Rakta Charitra-Part I Telugu/Hindi
2010 Rakta Charitra-Part II Telugu/Hindi/Tamil
2011 Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju Telugu
2011 Dongala Mutta Telugu
2011 Not a Love Story Hindi/Telugu
2011 Trishank Hindi Pre-Production
2011 Department Hindi
2011 Amma 3D Telugu/Hindi/Tamil/English
As producer:
Year Film Language
1993 Money Telugu
1995 Money Money Telugu
1996 Gulabi Telugu
1996 W/O V varaprasad Telugu
1997 Anaganaga Oka Roju Telugu
1998 Dil Se Hindi Co-Produced with Mani Ratnam and Shekhar Kapur
1999 Shool Hindi
2001 Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega Hindi
2001 Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya Hindi
2002 Road Hindi
2003 Ek Hasina Thi Hindi
2003 Darna Mana Hai Hindi
2004 Ab Tak Chhappan Hindi
2004 Vaastu Shastra Hindi
2004 Gayab Hindi
2004 Naach Hindi
2005 My Wife's Murder Hindi
2005 Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon Hindi
2005 D Hindi
2005 James Hindi
2005 Sarkar Hindi
2005 Mr Ya Miss Hindi
2006 Darwaza Bandh Rakho Hindi
2006 Shock Telugu
2006 Shiva Hindi
2006 Darna Zaroori Hai Hindi
2007 Nishabd Hindi
2007 Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag Hindi
2007 Go Hindi
2008 Sarkar Raj Hindi
2009 Adavi Telugu
2009 Agyaat Hindi
2010 Phoonk 2 Hindi
2010 Department Hindi Pre-Production
2011 Bejawada Rowdeelu Telugu Pre-Production
As writer:
Year Film
1989 Shiva
1990 Kshana Kshanam
1992 Antham / Drohi
1992 Raathri / Raat
1993 Gaayam / Desam
1993 Govinda Govinda
1994 Thiruda Thiruda / Donga Donga
1995 Rangeela
1996 Deyyam
1997 Daud
1999 Shool
2006 Shock
2006 Darna Zaroori Hai
2007 Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag
2008 Sarkar Raj
2010 Na Ishtam
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