It would be so-so-so boring to ask him about Ram Gopal Varma ke Sholay, Aag the Fire, Raakh the Ash..whatever. I just ask him an assortment of questions which he answers diligently, expressionlessly.. the only time he smiles is when I leave at the end of the interview.
Do you think there is a common theme running through all your films?
Yes, it's possible. I like this idea of a guy coming from somewhere and getting into these situations. That's what I picked up from the Bruce Lee films – Enter the Dragon, Return of the Dragon and Fist of Fury.
Also, films based on James Hadley Chase novels would be a very effective way of getting the audience involved -- because you connect to the protagonist, and through his eyes, into the story. Even in a horror film, a family coming into your house gets you involved. I guess I'm obsessed with the idea of someone coming somewhere from elsewhere.
Do you see ghosts behind the doors in your house?
I used to feel that way when I was making Bhoot.. I have this L-shaped bedroom, and if I was on the bed, I used to feel that Manjeet, the ghost in Bhoot, was behind the wall.
Have you ever got into a crisis, felt helpless?
No, I've never got into a crisis or felt helpless. If something happens which is not in my control, I usually think of a way of getting out of it. And if I can't, then I'll face it.
Have you ever been lost?
Never, because I don't drive. I always have a driver with me, or someone else driving.
Ram Gopal Varma is in news again for two of his much talked about films- Sarkar 2 and his remake of Sholay. The news is that titles of both the films have been changed. Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay is ‘Aag’ and Sarkar 2 is ‘Sarkar Raj’.
Ramu’s so called remake of Sippy’s Sholay is so different in aspects like atmosphere, characters and relationships that it no more can be called a remake. And for Sarkar Raj, Ramu had already declared that it is not on the lines of Godfather 2. So let us wait and see what does Ramu package this time.
Synopsis of Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay as circulated on net:
Film: Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, Nisha Kithari, Gaurav Kapoor, Mohanlal, Rajpal Yadav, Urmila Matondkar, Sushant Singh, Ajay Devgan , Abhishek Bachchan, Prashant Raj
Producer: Ram Gopal Varma
Music Director: Ganesh Hegde, Bappi Lahiri
Release Date: 13th July
Synopsis:
A train pulls into C.S.T. station and two young men step off. It’s their very first visit to Mumbai city. Only they are not here to visit. They have arrived with dreams of buying Mumbai out. Poor deluded fools, you might think… but that’s only till the first time you run into them. After that, it’ll be clear enough who’s deluded and who has just been made the fool. For this is a pair of street toughs par excellence… Jai, the younger of the two looks up to Veeru for guidance. Veeru in turn looks out for him. The pair’s loyalty to one another is absolute. Virendra Chavan (Ajay Devgan) and Jai Ranade (Prashant Raj) grew up in Latur together, where they came to be known to their town folk as Veeru & Jai. From their early days, the young men admired success and strength and sought in every which way to emulate it. Veeru went to work as a bodyguard for Sharad Patil, the local political heavyweight. But, when Patil went to jail in a scam, he lost his job. It was then that idea of coming to Mumbai took his fancy. As expected, his prodigy Jai tagged along. So Mumbai it was…Within a week of their arrival on the recommendation of an old acquaintance of theirs called Soorma (Rajpal Yadav) who runs a dance bar, they found work with Shambhul Seth, a criminal with heavy underworld connections and also high on the police scanner. In his pursuit of Shambhul, the Inspector Ranveer (Mohanlal) came into contact with Veeru and Jai. On meeting them, he realized that these were no hardened criminals. Small time hoodlums, perhaps, but deep inside their values were still intact. He chose to appeal to the honesty in them. He exposed them to Shambhul’s criminal past. Veeru and Jai were surprised by this. They agreed to help in whatever way they could. The inspector in the process of trying to get Shambhul got into a deadly trap and both Veeru and Jai in a show of extraordinary courage and strength managed to rescue him and managed to finish off Shambhul seth. But in the bargain, Veeru and Jai had to be arrested as well for associating with a criminal and for a while went to jail. Much later, when the inspector needed help in his hunt for Gabbar Singh (Amitabh Bachchan), his brief impression of these two young men returned to him. Since he could not expect the police to help in a quest for personal revenge, and his principles would not allow him to turn to the underworld for help, he decided to enlist the help of Veeru and Jai.
Ram Gopal Varma has been frozen to death realizing that his secretive shots from the song ‘Mehbooba’ featuring Urmila have leaked on the World Wide Web. “I haven’t given out any pictures. In fact, I don’t intend to show the song in my promos. So it has to be images taken on a mobile camera during the shoot (at Karjat),” Varma said. Well might be possible…But to have a look at one of these pics, it actually doesn’t look like a photo taken from a mobile. What say guys?
Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay is finally out of the back burner and ready to see the day’s light on Friday the 13th of July. Yes you heard it right- Friday the 13. Anything that is considered inauspicious in general can easily fall into the auspicious category for Ramu. That is what RGV stands for. So when you tell him that the day is not good he says: “But not by my calendar. I like to do the unthinkable. That’s what I did by doing my own take on Sholay, didn’t I?”
Not a surprise in RGV’s case. There are more surprises to come when the movie releases. After all the ‘n’ number of controversies that hovered around the movie it is finally set to release. The movie has lot many deviations from the original Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay. Starting from the duration of the movie to the scenes, characters and the relationship between each of the characters, everything is new. Good for the viewers and Ramu also says that he won’t use the Urmila-Abhishek Mehbooba song in the promos. Brave decision to avoid a famous number done differently as we all know what Farhan Akhtar had to face for featuring Yeh Mera Dil in the promos. Smart anyway!
The embargo placed on Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Sholay’ caused after Sascha Sippy, son of Original ‘Sholay’s’ producer Vijay Sippy, submitted a petition against the movie was taken to court. The petition says that Varma had copied the script and the characters of the original film. Sascha Sippy, the director of Sippy Films, had moved court on Oct 19, 2006 for restraining Varma from using the words ‘Sholay’, ‘Gabbar’ and ‘Gabbar Singh’ in the new film. The court had issued notices to Varma, his production House K. Sera Sera’s managing director P M Sanghvi and original Sholay’s producer’s son Ajit Sippy, who sold the production rights for the remake of Sholay to Varma, to file their replies to the allegations in the petition. The petitioner had contended that the script, the three popular words and screenplay of Sholay are the original literary work, protected under the sections 14 and 51 of the Copyright Act of 1957. Maharashtra Advocate General Ravi Kadam who appeared in the court in Varma’s personal capacity asserted that unless his client’s film matches the original Sholay scene-to-scene and dialogue-to-dialogue and in every other respect, it cannot be accused of violating sections 14 and 51 of the Copyright Act of 1957. The next hearing will be on March 2 and it will decide the fate of RGV’s Sholay.
RGV is making the remake of Sholay because he admires the classic movie by the Sippys. And now RGV has found Sushmita who plays the widow in the new version very impressive and says that ‘Silence’ is Sush’s strong weapon.
“Sushmita’s scenes with her screen brother-in-law Mohanlal are among the highlights of ‘Sholay’. So far, she has mostly played talkative characters. But Sholay proves that silences are Sushmita’s forte,” adds Varma. Equally impressed in Sush with the director- “It’s a dream-come-true for me. I just love that man’s creative energy. Varma is one director I’ve waited to work with. I’ve pestered him repeatedly to work together. Even when I was doing Vastu Shastra for his production house, I told him that’s not what I wanted. I wanted to be directed by him” says the lady herself. Varma says to cast Sush is not easy. “There has to be a strong role to offer Sushmita” adds the director.
RGV’s Sholay is different and is reinvented in all its aspects- characterization, situations, songs and even the story line a bit. As the movie moves in a frantic pace towards completion, we give you a sneak-peek look at the movie.
Director’s Quote on his latest remake retold:
“My Sholay is a remix of many westerns and a completely different interpretation of the earlier Sholay. The uniqueness of Sholay’s story is that it’s not a genre film. It’s the story of a man who wants to take revenge. It was supposed to be a dark, violent film where you hate the villain but instead made you love Gabbar Singh. When I first told Amitabh Bachchan that I was remaking Sholay he laughed. He thought I was joking. It took me 10 minutes to convince him I was serious. I narrated the scenes to him and the way I was planning to shoot, adapt and redesign the characters for contemporary times. Ajay and I go back a long way so he has a certain trust in me as a director. I remember when I had narrated the Sholay script to him during the making of Bhoot Ajay was super excited about it. He was the first guy I spoke to about adapting Sholay. My intention of remaking Sholay is not to make a better one but to adapt it. I want to change her clothes and see her in another dress.”
The story unfolds:
Virendra Chavade (Ajay Devgan) and Jai Ranade (Raj) have grown up in Latur together admiring success and strength. They come to Mumbai and start working for Shambhul Seth who is being chased by police inspector Ranbeer (Mohan Lal). When Ranbeer comes into contact with Jai and Veeru he realises their values are still intact, exposes them to Shambhul’s past and makes them help him getting revenge on Gabbar Singh (Amitabh Bachchan). Gabbar, has destroyed the inspector’s family and left behind a grieving widow, Devi (Sushmita Sen), who was married to Ranbeer’s brother. Ghungroo (Nisha Kothari), is Mumbai’s only woman auto-rickshaw driver, who lives close to Ranbeer’s home. She is Devi’s best friend.
All this but the twist remains untold. Let’s wait with some patience to know the ultimate Ramu’s version of Sholay.
Situations are different; songs are different then how can it be that the movie will remain the same. Yes, Rgv’s Sholay is not Sippy’s Sholay. The only song common is Mehbooba Mehbooba. No holi song and no song before the king gabbar will find place in RGV’s Sholay. “In fact,” reveals Ramu, “I decided to retain Mehbooba only because I liked track so much that I had to have it in my film. All the other songs in my film are originals. And for the first time in my cinema I’ve got a group of composers from Bappi Lahiri to Ganesh Hegde to Amar Mohile doing one song each. Every composer has been asked prepare one track each. See, all the songs in Sholay were terribly situational. But my situations will largely be totally different. I want every composer to come up with his best possible music.” The list is not yet over Vishal Bharadwaj has also been invited to do one moody bluesy track for the movie.
That was about songs; even the characters share a much more complex and real relationship with each other. Ramu provides a vivid peek. “The two female protagonists are two different people from the way they were conceived in the earlier film. Also the bum-chum relationship between my Jai (Prashant Raj) and my Veeru (Ajay Devgan) has been entirely changed. They’re no longer pals, but more like the mentor and his pupil. Ajay and Prashant share a guru-shishya relationship.” That makes sense, considering the age difference between the two actors. “No. From the start my Veeru and Jai were conceived as a senior and junior member of the partnership.” Ramu has been shooting with his Veeru and Jai and he’s all praise for his new discovery. “Prashant Raj is superb. Getting him to play Jai has been the best decision I made on Sholay after getting Mr Bachchan to play Gabbar,” says Mr Bachchan.
Pick and drop sessions are going on at Ramu’s sets of Sholay! Oye nahi yaar…I am not talking about the cab pick and drop. Ramu apparently dropped Mohit Ahlawat from his Sholay and picked up Mumbai based model Raj in stead.
Mohit, Varma’s James and Shiva discovery, was believed by Hrithik Roshan. 
He was one of the first actors to be cast in the new Sholay - as Jai, played by Amitabh Bachchan in the the director to have the star-potential of Shah Rukh Khan and original. But now Ramu no longer thinks that Mohit fits the role. What a twist in opinion! Lagta hai Mohit ka Ramu se panga ho gaya! Though Ramu doesn’t bother about dropping his cheela, who has been with him for past six years, Mohit is hurt and is still maintaining silence for his mentor.
Inclusion of Raj has made the casting complete lets see how the chemistry between Ajay Devgan (Veeru) and Raj (Jai) works on screen. But personally I believe Ajay should have an equal to play his friend Jai and not a new comer…what say friends?
Looks like Ram Gopal Varma has learnt to live and sustain himself in Bollywood against all odds now! His ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay’ is being criticized by one and all after his declaration of Nisha Kothari as Ghungroo aka Basanti…
With the Sippy camp trying every rule of the book to suppress the film, Ramuji seems to steer clear of every iceberg huh! Hope his ship meets the shore… coz indeed it would be fascinating to watch the greatest commercial success from the eye of the uncrowned king of directors!!!
The latest addition to the camp is Abhishekh Bachchan, who’ll join daddy – the several times crowned king of actors – and Urmila Matondkar for the new age ‘Mehbooba-O-mehbooba’ number… but surprisingly, Shreyas Talpade (the behrupiya in DOR) has refused to play a cameo in it… remember the small, but important character Sachin played???
He says that doing such small cameos isn’t suitable for his career at this stage… well buddy… Sachin had two major hits to his credit as solo hero when he jumped for that role in the original… moreover, learn some thing from Abhishekh Bachchan. He got successful only through cameos… didn’t you baby AB??? 
Bhai log… bole to apne bheje ki waat lag raheli hai! Saala samajh mein nahin aa rahela hai ki yeh HO kya rahaa hai… Radha ko Devi banaa daala… Basanti ko Ghungroo banaa daala… aur Ramgarh ko Mumbai banaa daala!!!!!
Can’t make head or tail out of what you just read??? Well guys, it was just the perpetually inquisitive and confused me… and this time, it’s Ram Gopal Varma to blame for this state of mine… His version of Sholay is so damn Hat ke yaar!
He makes it clear to one and all that “If Allah, Jesus Christ and Vaishno Devi come together to plead against my doing Sholay, I’d still be making it.”
You surely don’t need a more boisterous comment than that, do you??? And to top it all, he’s chosen his favorite Nisha Kothari to play Basanti’s character… but to avoid the unavoidable comparison between her and Hema Malini, he’s renamed the character as Ghungroo!!! She’s the only female auto rickshaw driver of Mumbai in the city and her vehicle is definitely an art director’s nightmare…
Knowing Ramu’s knack of extracting work (read forcing it out ) and eye for uniqueness, we better gear up for some amazing action sequences, while his production unit pull up their socks for some ass kicking shooting schedules
Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Well that’s what Ram Gopal Varma’s nest film will be… ‘Sex Haazir Ho’!!! The man who’s busy making the highly awaited and anticipated ‘Ram Gopal Varma ke Sholay’ has already decided upon the film he’s going to do after RGVKS hits the theatres… and he’s once again teaming up with the controversial production house of PNC.
However provocative or controversial the title may seem, RGV makes it clear that he’s not gone insane and is NOT making a porn film… he says the project is based on the sexual hypocrisy rampant in the Indian society… needless to say, it’ll have a lot of censorship bashing too… wonder what certificate will it get from the biggest hypocrites of the country???
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