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Andhratiger
Kurra Bewarse
Username: Andhratiger
Post Number: 665
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 61.95.134.130
| | Posted on Monday, July 04, 2005 - 1:12 pm: |    |
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Mon2fri
Pilla Bewarse
Username: Mon2fri
Post Number: 100
Registered: 04-2005
Posted From: 130.243.43.217
| | Posted on Sunday, July 03, 2005 - 6:18 pm: | |
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The only interactions I have is with people I work. I tell my writers and actors not to make a deity out of me. I tell them to exploit me to reach their goals, just in the way I exploited my seniors to reach my goal. But somehow, all of them get stuck in emotional lanes.
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Deyyam
Bewarse
Username: Deyyam
Post Number: 1855
Registered: 06-2004
Posted From: 151.205.43.5
| | Posted on Sunday, July 03, 2005 - 5:54 pm: | |
Wow, this is the first time I have seen RGV disclosing abt his personal life this much. This has been the interview that I have been waiting for so so long.
Thanks maama for the link.. |
Prashanth
Kurra Bewarse
Username: Prashanth
Post Number: 641
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 210.214.104.153
| | Posted on Sunday, July 03, 2005 - 5:36 am: | |
RVG kotha cinema peru 'JAMES' full action film mama....trailer susa |
Yendi_naa_royya
Pilla Bewarse
Username: Yendi_naa_royya
Post Number: 76
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 68.199.132.27
| | Posted on Sunday, July 03, 2005 - 1:04 am: | |
adi sanhathi
Then one day, I overheard him tell my uncle that he feared that I was going mad.
kikiki |
Cricfan
Kurra Bewarse
Username: Cricfan
Post Number: 590
Registered: 03-2005
Posted From: 24.162.125.91
| | Posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 - 11:43 pm: | |
RGV evariki ardham kaadu |
Andhratiger
Kurra Bewarse
Username: Andhratiger
Post Number: 661
Registered: 08-2004
Posted From: 61.95.134.130
| | Posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 - 11:07 pm: | |
His Master Voice
Bhawana Somaaya
Posted online: Friday, July 01, 2005 at 0000 hours IST
It is said that there are different kinds of creative artistes. The first, whose work reflects the kind of people they are. The second, whose work is a complete contrast from the kind of people they are. Which category does Ram Gopal Varma belong to? Find out, as the producer-director analyses himself as a son, sibling, employer, filmmaker and friend.
I’ve never been a good son. Not as a growing child and not now. Well, at least not in the traditional sense. Perhaps I’m too selfish to be duty bound. Or perhaps I’m just too shy. My mother sensed my reserve very early in life and learnt to leave me alone. She had to. She couldn’t figure me out. And this was evident in her eyes. Sometimes, I sense the same expression in my eyes when I’m relating to the rest of the world.
I was always a dreamer. At meal times, if my mother put food in my plate or tried communicating, I looked upon it as an invasion into my creative space. My reactions baffled her because none of her other children behaved the same way. Gently she tried reprimanding but it was to no avail.
The family could never be sure when I would explode and for what reasons. The slightest thing could provoke me or drive me to ecstacy. I had peculiar habits. There were days, I would only eat rice. Then there were days, I would eat only vegetables. Irrespective of what was put on the dinning table, I would focus on my mono diet. There were mornings, I’d wake up and refuse to go to school and nobody could force me. And there were evenings, I’d refuse to emerge from my room. I’ve spent countless nights reading storybooks until the last page of the book was over.
Success to me is not recognition from other people but the power to do what I want
I wasn’t a good student. I’ve failed twice during my education. The first, when I was in the tenth standard and later, during my entrance exams for engineering. And both the times, there was no remorse. Today, I wonder why I didn’t feel the slightest concern for my poor parents who had put together their life’s savings together to afford my college fees. On the contrary, I projected a false pride in bending rules, in standing apart. After so many years, the implications don’t seem as serious. But at that time my parents were devastated!
Strangely, I’ve remained detached from the worldly anxieties. Common worries that dogged my friends, did not feature in my agenda. For instance, I’ve never experienced insecurity about money. Not because I had it in excess but because I had faith that whenever I need it, it will appear from somewhere. And it always did.
The family was used to complaints about me from my school and from the neighbourhood. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve exasperated my mother to tears. She has hit me with every possible thing she could lay her hands on - belts, chappals, sticks but nothing could transform me.
With my father, there was little room for disagreements because we seldom talked. Only once, I remember talking to him seriously. He was reading the newspaper. I walked up to him and said, “I want to become a filmmaker”. He stared at me for a long time, then left the room. For days after that he had nothing to tell me. Then one day, I overheard him tell my uncle that he feared that I was going mad.
Looking back I can understand his concern. He had spent a lifetime serving as a sound recordist with ‘Annapurna Studio’ in Hyderabad. He had watched the highs and lows of show business from close quarters, but had never heard something so bizarre. On my part, I could have taken offence to his complete lack of confidence in me. I didn’t. I buried the secret in my heart and never spoke about it again.
Over the years, I got used to my isolation. I had no friends and didn’t cultivate them. If sometimes, I had something significant to share, I talked to my siblings. I am the oldest of the three children. After me is my sister Vijaya and then, my younger brother Shekhar whom we call Koti at home. While I was the restless soul driven by fleeting obsessions - at one time dogs, then butterflies, then kites, then English dictionary and finally cinema, Koti was strong and stable. Sometimes, I feel that I found happiness only when I found films. That’s when I made peace with myself.
There comes a phase in the relationship when the actor starts believing the image. He expects a new equation from me, his creator and I’m not willing for it. Thus begins the alienation
My siblings made peace with life much earlier. Vijaya, both, then and now remains an extension of my mother. She represents authority and wisdom but I think we communicate better today than we did in our younger days. I’m still not the traditional brother that Koti is to her. I don’t make the periodic phone calls inquiring about her health and family. I don’t remember her birthday or wedding anniversary, but she does and I feel humbled by her concern. Both my mother and she take immense pride in my success. They are so selfless. I almost feel undeserving of their affection. I tell myself that the next time they come visiting me, I’ll reserve more time for them. But every time, I’m caught in the same crisis.
There is another reason, a genuine reason why I escape these moments. It’s because I’m awkward at expressing. After the initial niceties, I’m at loss of words about how to pursue conversation. I reserve emotions only for cinematic experience. So when I’m happy, I hear violins and when I’m angry I hear drums. Somehow, I don’t attach that much importance to life. And this is indicated in my daily routine.
In my office, I expect minimum fuss from my staff. If my staff greets me, I’m unsure how to respond. I cannot say ‘Good Morning’ and I don’t want to smile without reason, so I disappear in my cabin. I’m not an attentive boss. If my staff has a problem, personal or professional, I expect them to resolve it on their own. I don’t have the patience to baby-sit or counsel them. I cannot fake concern. I cannot feel compassion for the 100 odd strugglers who drop by my office everyday. The faces may change but their stories remain the same. They all have the same goal, success.
As a filmmaker I’m interested in stories but more interested in characters. One look at a newcomer and I know whether he will make it. Ours must be the only office that works round-the-clock. The gates of our office are never shut. The staff is free to come and leave whenever they want as long as they fulfill their duties.
It’s only after I turned a producer did I realise that I have great skills for organising. It’s only after I launched my own company did I discover that I enjoy production much more than direction. Alfred Hitchcock has said a beautiful line somewhere. “The film is ready. Now I have to just shoot it.” I identify with that. The physical time of shooting a film is not necessarily the most interesting part of filmmaking. When I can control the entire operation sitting in my office, I don’t have to be present on the sets. Everything happens via the mobile phone. I don’t know how we survived without the technology for so long. The real magic on celluloid unfolds during the pre and the post-production. I’ve time and again said that I don’t make films to make money. I need money to make films.
I’m not in movie business for the same reasons as other film producers. Success to me is not recognition from other people but the power to do what I want. True confidence is about conquering fears. I’m aware that the audience relates to me more as a director than as a producer. I’m fortunate that the two roles create no conflict in me. Overspending is never an issue if it is for the betterment of the film, mine or my assistant’s. The problem for me arises when the audience confuses substance with craft.
Satya is rich in substance but simple in technique. Bhoot has little substance but great craft. For me, the latter was more challenging than the former. It does not matter that people don’t agree with me. My strength lies in the fact that I’m not easily influenced. I’m not intimate with people to take that liberty. I’ve never been able to define friendship. The only interactions I have is with people I work. I tell my writers and actors not to make a deity out of me. I tell them to exploit me to reach their goals, just in the way I exploited my seniors to reach my goal. But somehow, all of them get stuck in emotional lanes.
The relationship invariably complicates in the process of building an image, my own or my actors. Always, somehow there comes a phase in the relationship when the actor starts believing the image. He expects a new equation from me, his creator and I’m not willing for it. Thus begins the alienation. That is why when a film ends, so does the association. It has happened so many times, with so many actors that I’ve stopped reacting. I don’t anymore mourn break-ups. I’ve never missed friendships. Anyone who is involved in an inward journey does not miss it for he has his books, computer, television and most important cinema. If I’m low, the last person I want to be with is a loved one. For at that moment, I’m not seeking solace. I don’t need someone who says to me, “main hoon na...” I need someone who makes me see reason more clearly than I do.
http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_i d=10701 |
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