Ram Gopal Varma Interview With Ram Venkat Srikar | With English Subtitles

uh good afternoon sir welcome to film compan in South hi uh we are here to talk about obviously uh V one week obviously before coming to there I want to discuss a few things that I've always been wanting to ask you I see you as a philosopher although you will say that philosophy is the tool of the week I find some soltion some of your you know your thoughts or the way you put them out through the YouTube series I really like like them so I'll start with there itself sir fear of judgment is somet

hing that holds all of us back right character assination character certificate but you are someone like who has have had no inhibitions at what point did you overcome that fear of judgment or was there ever that see that's very good question see first of all where does Fear Come From Fear comes from when you don't understand there's a mystery there's an Intrigue you don't know the result which is what fear is about when you understand you won't fear the reason is because it was snake on the but

if you know the snakes I mean abilities can it see or just feel the vibration how does the poison exactly work in terms of into the bloodstream understanding it still is dangerous but you will have a kind of a knowledgeable solution probably is it poisonous or not options so fear comes from ignorance primarily okay so when I living in a society I know it what is important for society you need to follow certain things I used to try to understand that right from the beginning of my even in my sch

ool days actually to tell you the truth okay probably the first time ever I can imagine M book called R is what which triggered that thinking I think in a way because something which is revered like Ram the way she understood from a Marxist point of view was incredible so I didn't take the Marxism aspect but the fact that you could uh challenge I think a rule or something what you think is cannot be that was my first impact in terms of uh not taking things at face value the way they were told to

you by your parents or by your teachers or whoever it is and that started a chain of me reading many many kind of different philosophies philosophy is nothing but a study of the hum thinking or a society or whatever it is you know so because of that I live like a rebel what is a Rebel Rebel is nothing but going against what is accept it you know but I'll always follow only one thing I'll follow the law I don't follow morality I don't follow religion I don't follow because law is necessary becau

se if you have to live in a city you need to follow certain things for the sake of that and it's a small price to pay for all the benefits you get from society yeah so four aspects the only thing I follow is the law other three I don't like okay let me ask a followup question law is there you are respecting a law you are a Law Abiding Citizen but as a filmmaker sometimes law by product sensorship they have come in your ways right yeah didn't you feel like at least but say see law basically it's

very cumbersome process to change an act or to change a certain regulation which is probably in the con tion or whatever you know stupid acts because no one really wants to go there and make that effort there is a place in Mand in Bombay people are not allowed to shot when you have satellite systems and all that they can pick up everything under the under the on the planet Earth they're still following that only because no one is taking that effort to change it same thing with sensor but 1952 ce

mat you know and also that is at a time when the government used to be very sensitive to people act which has absolutely no relevance because everybody is a can see everything including Pawn because you can't do it it's not possible to do that film creates it is just a meaningless system yeah everybody thought it's a horror I don't completely agree with that because it's not just the movies influence but also his upbringing his teaching what is your take on on this hey yeah so so basic to answer

your question first of all violence from the time the homo sapiens are born so whether art follows life or life follows art is question same question to start with films influence what is a film it is it is a certain medium which are creating either an entertainment or education or whatever the maker chooses to do as a medium of expression expression is about one's Outlook towards life in own perspective and that is what is protected by the So-Cal freedom of expression you know so freedom of ex

pression that is the third Point famous Cas US Supreme Court if you don't want this and for example there was a magazine case on Hustler you don't want to read Hustler don't buy it you can't take away the freedom of the person who wishes to bite soal responsility word so we are living in a world there will be some countries where they can't even show the ankle of the foot there could be another country where they're wearing bonies there can be someone else in US certain parts even nud colonies a

re allowed because consenting in a community or if you are if you are being abiding to the laws of that Society or a community you can do that so only thing which can be done is by regulation regul already freedom of expression nature okay unless you give that freedom there will never be a free flow of ideas yeah okay and I find it very interesting that me 10th and phop freeing how much of this would you attribute to the books that you read during your formative years see that's also very good q

uestion which is what I've been talking with if you agree with something if you agree with me on something you already know it on M and because if you say correct which means you connected to some experience or some thought of yours maybe I could have phrased it in a way or in a context which kind of draw the message message a very difficult question to answer because Nish book is available to everyone irand is available to everyone it's not like they my personal property or only I have access t

o them there has to be something inside you yeah okay yeah but what Drew you to or Fountain Head when may life experience I think see maybe a kind of Rebel thinking for example uh when my grand my grandmother uh my father's mother she was like a very huge devote of ramay ramu constant RAM and she suffered a lot from various health problems that's probably the first time it triggered me a woman who so much into God can suffer so much what is it exactly maybe my questioning started from there you

know and that will kind of I mean kind of spread over into many other areas at the same time and I bent of Mind only the K and then I probably start meeting only such people or maybe getting attracted to only such writings or books or whatever you call and yeah it's it's a process okay but Ramos if okay you okay maybe 15 years or 16 years you are eming all this [Music] philosoph from like you said you come from a very normal family from right so 15y old not really because very early I realized t

hat people one of the Prime emotion in people which they live by is anger and sense of righteousness correct one of the most dominant egoism in people which is what one of the most principal things we live by so okay because see when the moment you don't take yourself seriously and your thought process seriously you will lose sense of righteousness which will also make you lose anger so the moment the anger emotion is not in you you become a very deep studier of everything because anger in just

sense of right mind block it doesn't let other knowledge or other perspectives come into your mind you know so your mind stops yeah correct is like a wall you know a wall you tried I mean I managed to break make it at a very young age because I was very very inquisitive all the time to hear different viewpoints I used to question everything what my mother said or what my father said so that and when the moment they are they're not able to answer I realize that they're just uh blindly following w

ithout any kind of mental growth yeah doubt doubt does being Rebel also come with does does being Rebel and being angry go with hand in hand go hand in hand or are there two different Rebel and rebel and angry no two different things no no absolutely there's no connection see anger is nothing but coming from a sense of righteousness anger is just actually byproduct of righteousness but Reb see when you want to harm somebody if he's coming in the way that is not anger see that is for gain you're

doing [Music] I'm going against the established Norm that's it in my reing thing coming from a place of anger because example I'll come back to the sneak example you know okay okay I'm not angry with the snake I still want to destroy it because I sense harm to me H so I am doing that act Without Anger yeah anim you will kill because of danger yeah because you're actually attacking the belief system yeah FMS used to be made cameras sound but when someone like you a young guy is coming inside and

changing you know the process cinematographer all the senior people they already have a process doesn't it create a sort of friction or irritation if you wouldn't call it anger see irritation is different see irrit will come because you're being uh you want to get something done and then there is a person is not allowing that to happen or not understanding how to do it and because of the loss of time and your mental energy it will create a certain physical irritation is almost a physical reactio

n you face that I do that I do that all the time okay I get irritated very very fast what irritates you like for instance we taking a lot of time to set up did you get irritated yes I will do in that is is eating my time because uh I don't want to give time is the most precious thing in life so if I'm allotting a time to someone and because of someone else's action I'm losing that I get irritated yes yeah absolutely I need some time to process it but yeah I also like the fact that you said self

books because there's no point I want to understand where do you seek that that support from do you have support system what does RAM gopal Verma support system looks like when he's low me to start with I never feel low yeah I won't feel low I'll tell you the reason for that because see we when you're aware that you are you are with the limitation so I am born in a certain form I don't liit resources so I just if you imagine myself as one spec in the entire universe you know with not even notice

able if I come from there then for me to feel low I think it's a very selfish and egoistic act to feel low because you are giving yourself self importance but I'm saying it is not possible for it to feel low see because it is internal it might feel sad it might feel fear but that is a natural instinct of living being but when you use the word a person is feeling low it is much more to do with a self-importance isn't it also natural thing me no I am not saying no it is not it is not natural becau

se that's being inflicted upon you by a social see you are born with a blank mind okay after that you are taking in everything through your experiences to what you told what you read what you felt and you start mimicking also the same thing for example examp you feel low so if you ask yourself is the exam important in the first first place exam importance you are zooming into some inconsequential thing at that time is this is my same reason for why I think I don't have any sympathy for people wh

o commit suicide because unless it's for pain or health related pain reasons which is a different chapter all together because they take themselves seriously world will keep on going on you know so I feel people who feel low like when someone very close to me call me and talk like this I I speak very rudely to them I'm I never offer a shoulder see I said I will give any time for you to think of a solution I don't to participate in your worry you know don't something yeah okay so I I just want if

a situation comes option one option two option three there is no option that's also an option then face it okay no problem so but how do you dissociate yourself from you're obviously you like making films you are here because for the past 30 years because you like making films films work out and they see I'm not talking about Roa and all okay you put the X amount you are making X plus one amount okay the producer is safe everything okay fine you're getting to make more films but imp how do you

dissociate how do you keep this happiness and failure separate how do you remain unaffected by your work life is there like proper demarcation between your work life how see to to start with I never feel happy I feel excited excitement comes from what you're about to do what you want to do what you're going to do happiness is about what happened already so that I think is the past you know so excitement is about what you want to create so by the time it either succeeds or not as per uh General s

tandards I'm already into my next excitement I left that so there's never a question of me feeling either sad or happy yeah oh my God because are all see I I've been exposed to your thoughts but sitting here and listening to them feels a bit uh seral let's come to films I want to know what kind of a producer RGB is filmmaker we know what kind of a producer RGB is is he someone is he the kind of producer that you wish you had always you always had I really don't know what uh I mean the definition

of a producer see producer either you can Define as a person who's putting things together to make a film in which you can be giving the one particular specific job called the director to someone okay or a producer is a manufacturer who's making a product and he's putting it out in the market to make money out of it so I don't in what way you're using the word producer producer and you are enabling other filmmakers to tell their stories right you are picking up Talent you are ensuring that thei

r Vision comes to to life correct so in that uh what I want to correct is I my target is I want to make a film happen okay I am not interested in the guy who's making the film I have no interest not I my intention is not to give him a break or make his dream come true except for my own dreams I don't care about anyone else's dreams okay point one so why do I do that I'm using him because of his certain temperament or a certain qualification where I think he'll be a skill set yeah but the product

will be mine what I Envision you know so of which he will be one he could be doing the whole thing that's also fine but if I am the guy who's causing it I'm taking one or four or five or 10 people just to make the product happen yeah how does how does Den function like sir see Den is nothing I would call it a creative Hub because we intending to make at least five to six films or web series or something like that in a year and uh I want to attract people who are like-minded like me you know and

uh every film it it comes from an idea for example now the moment the idea comes it grows into a film like from a seed into the tree the idea grows into a full-fledged film you know so I want to attract creative people into that I I'll give simple idea uh I I got an i i i someone sent me forwarded one video or real of some girl she was very very effective you know I put it on my Twitter and I said uh uh can someone can someone tell me who she is then uh the guy who shot it got in touch with me

then I happened to meet him and the girl and uh then I immediately thought of making I got an idea of a film okay I sent forward the message to a writer and and the writer came up with a uh idea of a synopsis which I liked very much M and then I sent it to some director all this is going on what WhatsApp forwards that's it you know and that guy that guy got excited and he sent me his ideas of how he wants to approach the this and that you know and then I sent it to one music director to do a tit

le song for this concept you know and then she sent something so me sitting in the den without meeting any of them I put the project together and that is starting shooting next week oh my God yeah and I didn't meet any of them till dat no oh wow yeah because I I'm interacting with thoughts why do I need to see a person why do I need to see I I'm only interacting with the mind it can only be a projection of their personality right it can't be their entirity are you okay with that part I am okay w

ith that I don't I don't want to be judgmental about how there as people I am only taking what I want from them that's the point in fact that will be much more pure if I'm only interacting with the thought process because in person I might get carried away because of the personality and whatever else they have but exactly what I want from them if I focus on that it'll be much easier to do it what is what is your relationship with with the these writers these filmmakers like do you believe in som

ething like film Mak mentoring do you believe in that kind of bond I hate anyone wanting to learn I never encourage anyone who cannot think for himself I never want to tell yes like I might tell an opinion of mine on something and in the same way I will also listen to that person you know what because it might not have occurred to me the way he saw it yeah how do you how do you select your assistant director sir I'm very curious to know this see most of the time I don't interact with myant direc

tors I just uh if I have five assistant that is five or six I only talk to one person I don't talk to anyone you because that one person becomes like if I'm if I'm directing that is you know then that one person will become like a communicator between me and various departments is one if I'm producing except with the director I don't meet anyone because I'm choosing the director on my basis of my understanding of his ability to command so I don't want to meet anybody else who is working with but

sir when you're making a film it's like it's like 200 people coming together it's like a work of 100 people or like 200 people coming together but do you believe that film is like vision of one person do you strongly believe that yes vision is not the correct one decision of one person the vision could have come from somewhere else but if he is deciding to do it how it should be made how it should be released all that will be controlled always by just one person and he might not be the director

he might not be anything but okay counter point think of me as a devil's advocate here but don't you think taking others feedback will you know see help you not get I am not saying don't take feedback I said the final decision maker okay how do you retain that you know objectivity because when you are invested it is not possible see because eventually there is a question of taste is a question of your sensibility like you know you you and me can never think and feel the same thing because you b

orn in different circumstances in a different family with a different Financial background social background the kind of parents you have the kind of experience you had the kind of books you read all of them will be completely different from what the same factors how they influence me so it is not possible for me to do something which you would like okay so if I don't know one person who sitting in front of me how will I know the audience so then the only thing you can do is to be honest to your

self of what you want to do and hope that there enough people out there to sustain the kind of a cost what this film is made in that's about the only what do you call option any yeah yes there is a technical thing that you can you can do something which has been a tested formula you can anytime you make an action filal work or this and that you can have that it's not not that it doesn't happen you know but that will be on the template R kind of films but if you try to do something original you o

nly can do it for yourself and you have never tried to make a wholesome pot boiler commercial Cinema you didn't even think about it sir no it it naturally doesn't come to me because I never like those kind of films yeah okay okay you you have been someone who has been vocal about you know adapting new technology ice cream 2014 you are like one of those Front Runners for you know [Music] digital don't you think it's becoming harder to stand out in today's age at time when everyone can can be a fi

lmmaker yeah which which should which is how it should be which is what is called a democra of f making you know so when everyone has an access you you don't access to the industry to the film making tools to various other things today anyone can make a film literally with almost zero cost that's actual where where we are right now then it becomes an expression oriented you know so it is no longer like a template where a few people are deciding you should only make this kind of film this kind of

film that that cannot happen anymore that is not happening anymore you know so then the best among them will survey yeah which is like any other economy how do you you you can put 1,000 restaurants but all of them won't work in the same way same thing if you make 1,000 films finally what will work is only how much the society accepts how do you how do you think is AI going to change film making sir see AI will change everything I don't think films are just one part films rapidly for example I i

f you take writing you know and I'm I'm pretty sure writers are going to be obsolete if I mean the stem stemmer started already in Hollywood when the strike happened and all that and uh then if you look at Art directors every music every creative field is going to be eaten up by for sure we just right now we in a state of denial of what it already can do because we are so comfortable in what we are doing we don't want to step out or turn back to see what else is happening or look up to see what

else is coming because that compeny is always in human beings you know and because of that we are not using it but even the available AA today forgetting what is going to rapidly advance in the coming years very short very I'm very I won't be surprised if it's in months also it is going to eat up everything don't you see it as a thread or will you welcome it I mean I think it's a part of life evolution is a part of life the AI I think is like uh we evolved from the Apes and the AI evolved from u

s so what will happen to the Apes will happen to us because of AI so I think it's a fact of a very Grim statement I don't know not I think you just real I think you should accept it okay if you're in a business and then someone else comes and starts your business in big way and you couldn't imagine how big is become and at one point of time it will Dawn upon you that you can't compete with the person and you kind of resign to life that's exactly what will happen with the ey it's not Grim I think

you should welcome it it is it's a question of evolution you know yeah so and you in the I don't see you just as a as a filmmaker you have been on uh you said that film making self expression it's a medium for self expression but when you are when you want to say a story or when you want to express yourself what makes you say that be it political commentary be it a feeling that you want to communicate to your audience or what makes you say I'm going to make this into a film because you can very

well go and share it on a podcast you can very well you know you can you can write a long essay you can you know talk to the camera Medi so what makes you say this idea of mine or this thought of mine deserves to be made as a film what motivates thato see like there is some things which uh which the visual form the visual medium can Port very effectively there is something else the writing medium can do for example I I believe that it's impossible to make Fountain Head into a film because it's

a book of ideas and ideas cannot visually translate with the same effect you know but as something else if you just see it on a visual without describing it it can create a certain feeling so I think they're they're not interchangeable everything you I I'll give an example in uh in the book of uh uh lar Collins and Dominic leier which is called the freedom of midnight Freedom at midnight okay in that book he wrote a certain paragraph describing the time at when India was about to get Freedom you

know what is situation with the Hindu Muslim riots happening in 1947 you know so he wrote a paragraph in that in the August of 1947 Mirage of prosperity concealed the reality of Kolkata the lush green sweep of the maidan the Georgian mansions and the office of the Great trading companies along shingi road with a surface man as false as a cinema set behind them lay human sewer packed with the densest concentration of human beings on the face of the Earth they included 400,000 Beggars and unemplo

yables and 40,000 lepers the slums they inhabited were a feated stinking horror the rare water that flowed through their pumps polluted the copses decomposing in the hugi river at the time India was about to attain her freedom 3 million people in Kolkata lived in a state of chronic undernourishment and existed on an intake INF that was given to the inmates of Hitler's death camps into that Friday into that hell hole that Friday afternoon Mahatma Gandhi got a f rain now this paragraph I think is

impossible to visualize no blood no way yeah yeah now at the most what we will show some shots of Kolkata okay maybe poor slums will show or something something something and we cut to the train station and Gandhi gets off a train but imagine the buildup of the emotional context what is describing behind the scenes and then to see Gandhi get off a train this can never be replaced in visual format visual format you know huh are you if you look at it on a scene in boo when Ura comes down the steps

and as she go in and the eyes are doting this only can happen in visual I can't describe it on on paper the effect of this so I think what the visual can do writing cannot do and what some writing can do the visual can never justify that yeah but take something like political commentary political commentary okay this leader isn't it fairly a what do you call an easier play to be you know communicated verbally or through writing I think uh see that's what I'm saying see I would like to believe p

olitics is much more to do with a verbal medium because that also constitutes lot of ideas strength of ideas and you could be visualizing a scenario but that needs to be expressed with words not through images yeah a battle can be visual you know yeah you you you said that it's not politics that excites me or interest me it's the psychology behind the you said it like 8 years ago has it remained the same yeah same thing same thing see for me the human interaction the conflict their egos and thei

r their what do you call the thirst for power that's what which interest me lot of people use the word politics they really understanding or predefining it it's not about a part all that is a completely separate thing which I'm not at all interested you're not interested in electoral politics you are interested in yeah I'm interested in the power play and how do you ensure that okay this I don't know how to ask this question how do you ensure that you're not biased or you are portaying a an obje

ctive see there's always only a point of view there's no such thing see when I have a point of view and I'm trying to do it for a purpose of someone else you know for example let's say I I don't drink tea let's say okay if I'm offered a to do an ad for a tea so I am not professing my point of view I'm using my ability in my best capacity to sell it to the someone that doesn't mean I am endorsing it I am liking it that's the point this we do it all the time as human beings you are doing it for th

e probably for the happiness of someone you love or maybe your children or if someone you kind of say that you might get something in gain something or you might do it for entertainment you know yeah so I think we all do things which we necessarily not like which necessarily not really my belief yeah but uh to identify a purpose if there is a road if I We Lay to Delhi I might not care about going to Delhi but my purpose is to lay the road for alterior purpose neither the people going to Delhi or

the Delhi itself doesn't make a difference to me yeah okay okay okay okay but you're still okay with you know creating art that might not align with your belief system are you okay with yes yes I am because I am enjoying the process mhm so the process is what I'm enjoying not necessarily what others perceive as the destination of the process but your own morality wouldn't come into play no I don't have morality at all which is what I told okay the only thing I managed to completely win over is

my morality which which I think is my biggest strength lack of morality yeah okay and again speaking about politics you stated that actual politicians that is actually a very what do you call important thing but it's not that glamorous what we get carried away our politic I might be simplifying you said it over 45 minute episode and media plays a very important role in portraying you know a certain image of a politician right now when you are making a political film about real people who are sti

ll working who are still uh contesting you are also part of uh playing the role of a media and it has the influence to it has the power to influence people right see the whole purpose of any communication is to influence what is influence is nothing but attempting to influence is the purpose of communication if I'm if I'm trying to tell my idea to you through a writing or a film or whatever it is or talking or whatever you know and in a family when the communicate it will be the same the father

want to influence the son the son wants to influence the Father the whole purpose of communication is that okay so in the context of that if uh who will listen to whom what kind of people and how many kind of how many people so these will be variables in that sense okay now I might not care to dumb down myself to talk to a certain set of people you know or I might Act want to take that as a challenge and to see how much I can dumb down also then that is again enjoy the process not because I want

to talk to dumb people or I want to talk dumb but even that requires a lot of intelligence how to talk to dumb people a dumb person cannot talk to dumb people that's what I'm saying yeah okay but where is that line between influence and propaganda what is your definition see actually there is no difference difference propa you can say that my purpose is to tell something good like all ads are propaganda for example yeah product everything is propaganda when you're selling something you know or

when you want to make someone believe principlism is the best nothing wrong in I do everything for publicity yeah I don't think anything negative in the world things are things there no such thing as negative negative is a label you are putting hate Okay negative hate even hate is the same hate is coming from righteousness hate and anger are related hatred it is a byproduct of anger yeah okay and you're pretty active on on Twitter you have a Twitter personality but sometimes that Twitter persona

lity tends to become your tends to overpower your your image right it it happens don't you think sir that is a bit unfair to Ram goal VMA the filmmaker see I keep hearing this but but the point that I it comes from a place of concern only I know you don't care is a part of life see when you know you you what you say might not be understood by everyone understood by some people or in the wrong way but I do not care about the person receiving I care only about expressing one way it's a one way str

e it's one way if I'm talking to you I enjoy the process of me talking I don't care about you listening that's what I'm trying to say you got it yeah which is what is called expression I'm not interested in communication okay yeah I might attempt H but if it doesn't communicate I don't care I mean it doesn't make any difference to me final uh one of the final uh question sir Shiva 4K restoration yeah oh it's done yeah it does done okay can we expect a re-release I know that's for the studio film

and you're not at all like you don't romanticize the past or anything no no no never 25 years 30 years my my life and my day starts this minute now the entire background is something I don't even look at which is the reason I live in constant excitement okay what your past can never excite you what you're going to do is the only thing which can excite you yeah wonderful on that note thank you very much sir for your time really means a lot sitting here having this conversation with you all the v

ery best I hope you stay excited all the time thank you yeah good all with without you hoping I will yeah one of the best interviews that's okay I really enjoyed [Music] them