Ram Gopal Varma born April 7, 1962) is an Indian film director, writer and film producer from Andhra Pradesh. He is popular for his slick, grisly films and his penchant for horror and gangster films. He is rated as the one of the finest directors in India. He owns a production house which churns out a large number of small budget Indie films every year, with great success. He has a cult like fan following in India and abroad. His most successful films include Shiva, Rangeela, Satya, Company and Sarkar. April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... “Andhra” redirects here. ... An independent film, or indie film, is a film initially produced without financing or distribution from a major movie studio. ... Shiva(Telugu:శివా) (1989) is a Telugu movie starring Nagarjuna and his future wife, Amala which deals with violence and student politics inside the college campus. ... Rangeela (1995) is a Hindi-language movie, a product of the Bollywood film industry. ... Satya is a 1998 Hindi movie, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Company is a 2002 Hindi film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi and Mohanlal. ... Sarkar (Hindi: सरकार, Urdu: سرکار, translation: Government) is a 2005 Bollywood film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Amitabh Bachchan in the title role. ...

Early years

Ram Gopal Varma was born to Krishnam Raju and Suryamma. He dropped out of the V.R.Siddhartha Engineering College in Vijayawada from the civil engineering branch, before taking up a career initially as the owner of a video shop and then became one of India's leading film directors. He was not a regular at classes, but was known more as a big movie buff during his college days and used to analytically watch both American and Indian films through repeat viewings. He and his uncle were crazy about movies and would often skip classes to watch them in spite of beatings from his mother. He used to get very excited each time he saw the ‘Directed by’ and ‘A Film by’ title card and had the same passion when he saw his own name on the title card of his debut Shiva. There was no support from his family and even his uncle thought he was crazy. Velegapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College (also known as VRSEC) is the first private institution to offer undergraduate education in engineering in Andhra Pradesh, Founded in 1977, this college had a very good reputation in Engineering Education. ... , Vijayawada ( ) (విజయవాడ) literally translates to The Place of Victory. It is also known as Bezawada. ...

Though he is highly influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, he has his own style. He doesn’t bother about reviews and says, “Why should I worry about what the faceless reviewer thinks about my film? If he doesn’t like it, there is nothing that I could do about it.” Varma also does not respect any film awards and never attends award functions, regardless of whether he is nominated or not. Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award winning American film director, producer, and screenwriter. ... This article is about the 1972 film. ...

He is currently working on a project Amaanush a remake of X-Men, a story which was conceived by noted storywriter Chandra Ram Malvotta from Bangalore. X-Men is a 2000 superhero film, based upon the fictional characters the X-Men. ... For other uses, see Bangalore (disambiguation). ...

Career

Ram Gopal Varma started his film career in the Hyderabad film industry as production assistant for the films Raogarillu and Collectorgari Abbai produced by S.S.Creations. Ram Gopal Varma made a huge mark in the telugu industry with his debut film Shiva , a violent stylized crime drama with a college backdrop. At the age of 28, with no film background and training, he was able to convince Nagarjuna, then a young telugu star to do his debut movie. Nagarjuna liked the narration of the script and energy displayed by Varma, and produced the movie himself. Shiva became a landmark film for the Telugu industry and was later remade by Varma in Hindi, but was not able to repeat the same commercial success as that of the original. It has, however, become a cult classic. Shiva(Telugu:శివా) (1989) is a Telugu movie starring Nagarjuna and his future wife, Amala which deals with violence and student politics inside the college campus. ... Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao (Telugu: ఆక్కినేని నాగార్జున) (born August 29, 1959 in Chennai, India), often known as Nagarjuna, is a popular Telugu Cinema actor and a successful producer. ...

His another bilingual (Telugu/Hindi) film Kshana Kshanam (starring Venkatesh and Sridevi in the lead) was loosely based on a Hollywood flick Romancing the Stone and was another huge blockbuster for the young Varma. Raatri (a bilingual horror flick with Revathi in the lead),Antham (a hard hitting bilingual crime drama with Nagarjuna and Urmila Matondkar in the lead, all failed to repeat the commercial success of his first two films. Kshana Kshanam (Telugu: క్షణ క్షణం) is a Telugu movie directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Venkatesh is one of the most famous actors in Telugu film Industry, Tollywood. ... Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963 in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu) is an Indian Superstar actress. ... ... Romancing the Stone is an American 1984 action-adventure film. ... Revathi Revathi, also known as Revathy, (born 8 July 1966) is a South Indian actress and film director. ... A statue depicting Nagarjuna at the Samye Ling Monastery, Dumfriesshire, Scotland Nāgārjuna (నాగార్జున in Telugu, 龍樹 in Chinese) (c. ... Urmila Matondkar(Marathi:उर्मिला मातोंडकर) (born on February 4, 1974 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a well-known Indian Bollywood actress. ...

Govinda Govinda (with Nagarjuna and Sridevi in the lead) became controversial because the villain of the film steals the diamond studded crown from the sacred Lord Venkateshwara idol. Despite it being purely fiction, the scene was considered sacrilegious. Indian censor boards asked Varma to delete this scene and the movie became a dud at the box-office. Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao (Telugu: ఆక్కినేని నాగార్జున) (born August 29, 1959 in Chennai, India), often known as Nagarjuna, is a popular Telugu Cinema actor and a successful producer. ... Sridevi was born on August 13, 1963 in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu) is an Indian Superstar actress. ...

One of his releases, Gaayam with newcomer Jagapati Babu and Urmila Matondkar was about the politics of a city, most people consider it to be Vijayawada during his college days in the city. The screenplay was provided by popular Tamil film director Mani Ratnam, and Ratnam wrote the script based on The Godfather. It became a huge success and put Varma back on top. The noted Telegu film actor Jagapatu Babu is the son of a veteran producer-director and the key person of ‘Jagapathi Arts’ V.B. Rajendra Prasad. ... Urmila Matondkar(Marathi:उर्मिला मातोंडकर) (born on February 4, 1974 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a well-known Indian Bollywood actress. ... , Vijayawada ( ) (విజయవాడ) literally translates to The Place of Victory. It is also known as Bezawada. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are a multi-ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... Mani Ratnam (Tamil: ) (born June 2, 1956) is a critically acclaimed Tamil Indian film director, writer and producer. ... This article is about the 1972 film. ...

He would then start his own production banner Varma corporation limited and produced Telugu films such as Money, Money Money, Gulabi, Wife of Mr. Vara Prasad, Anaganaga oka roju, Deyyam (with the last two directed by Varma himself). His assistant directors Krishna Vamsi, Shiva Naageshwar Rao and Teja who worked as a cinematographer for his movies, later became big names in the telugu industry. Krishna Vamsi is a film director from India who has directed many films in Telugu film industry(South Indian) and Bollywood. ...

While popular Indian Cinema was either over the top action films or glamorous love stories, his movies were more deep and realistic. Though Indian Cinema has always produced ace movie-makers who reveled in the portrayal of realism, he is credited for bringing realistic films into the mainstream and creating his own niche as a maker of stylish yet realistic commercial cinema. The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of the ticket sales and the number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 alone). ...

He has been known for remaking his own movies. He remade Shiva(Telugu) into Shiva(Hindi) then re-remade the same movie in 2006 as Shiva 2006(Hindi) with a different cast and tasted commercial failure. He then remade Raatri(TELGU) as Raat(Hindi) and also as Deyyam(Telugu). He made Antham(Telugu) into Drohi(Hindi).

His first success in Bollywood started with the commercial blockbuster Rangeela, a romantic drama. Urmila Matondkar became a big Bollywood star overnight. A. R. Rahman also became a star in Bollywood with this film. Attempting to recreate the success of Rangeela, Varma followed Rangeela with Daud, a romantic adventure, which was a huge dud. Bollywood (Hindi: , Urdu: ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. ... Urmila Matondkar(Marathi:उर्मिला मातोंडकर) (born on February 4, 1974 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is a well-known Indian Bollywood actress. ... Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: ஏ.ஆர்.ரஹ்மான்) (born on January 6, 1967 as A. S. Dileep Kumar in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is an internationally renowned musician, best known for composing film scores and soundtracks. ...

Varma decided to switch tracks and released the ground breaking film Satya, a film based on the Mumbai underworld. The film was brutally realistic as Varma did extensive research on Mumbai organized crime and shot the film documentary style along Mumbai slums, chawls and streets. Made with a shoe string budget and non-stars, this film made famous actors like Manoj Bajpai, J.D Chakravarthy, and writers like Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap and music composers like Sandeep Chowta and Vishal Bharadwaj. The film was widely considered Varma’s first true masterwork, and with the film Varma single-handedly created a genre which would be popularly known as the ‘Mumbai-noir’. Some critics bashed Varma for his glorification of Mumbai hoodlums, causing Varma to add a cautionary message during the end credits of the film. Varma decided afterwards to only direct films in Bollywood from then onwards. The mega blockbuster film spawned many imitations in Bollywood, but all were largely inferior. Satya is a 1998 Hindi movie, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... , “Bombay” redirects here. ... Manoj Bajpai Manoj Bajpai is a Bollywood actor. ... J.D Chakravarthy is a film actor, of mainly Tollywood films and director of Bollywood films, Darwaza Bandh Rakho, Durga and the story of an innocent man in jail in Darna Zaroori Hai. ... Saurabh Shukla is an Indian actor. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Vishal Bharadwaj is an Indian film director, writer and musical composer. ...

Another hard hitting masterpiece followed shortly after with ‘Shool’, written and produced by Varma. The film looked into the life of a police officer, in the harsh rural setting of Bihar. The film repeated Varma favorite Manoj Bajpai and was a commercial and critical success.

With movies like Kaun, Bhoot and his award winning masterpiece Company he cut out song and dance sequences commonplace in Bollywood films, so as not to interrupt the flow of the narration. He is also known to be very particular about the background scores and for a long time collaborated with composers Sandeep Chowta and Vishal Bharadwaj. Company is a 2002 Hindi film which stars Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi. ... Bollywood (Hindi: , Urdu: ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. ...

Ram Gopal Varma often criticises the popular Bollywood film fraternity. He does so with sarcastic humor. His films almost always deal with the contemporary and urban. The scheme is mostly set in the city of Mumbai, however, the scope is allowed to expand as per the story. He is also known for introducing new actors and technicians in his films, rather than using established actors and technicians. He often uses Indian stage actors in his films rather than Bollywood stars. Critics say his movies don't just sketch a macro perspective but go deeper into the minds of the protagonists attempting to uncover their motivations. , “Bombay” redirects here. ...

His recent release Naach, which Ram Gopal Varma called his best film yet, was a self reflective piece and was an intense drama about the relationship between an idealistic choreographer who wants to revolutionize the film world and an ambitious actor who just wants to become rich and famous. The film did not do well commercially but was a critical success. In a recent interview with the Indian Express newspaper the filmmaker criticized Indian audiences saying "I gave Ayn Rand to a Municipal School." Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher,[1] best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels We the Living, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and the novella Anthem. ...

His next film as a director was Sarkar and released in June 2005. The film had the father-son Bollywood superstar duo Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan playing a father-son role in the film. Varma had said that Sarkar was a mix of Marlon Brando from the The Godfather, and the real life tale of respected Mumbai politico Bal Thackeray. Amitabh Bachchan played the character of Sarkar who is a self righteous and powerful politician. “Bachchan” redirects here. ... Abhishek Bachchan (Hindi: , born 5 February 1976[1][2] in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is an award-winning Indian actor. ... This article is about the 1972 film. ... “Bachchan” redirects here. ...

He spends most of his time these days producing small budget films for his production house Varma Corp, for most of which he often is the ‘ghost director’. He produces films at a rapid rate that is unfamiliar to the Indian Film Industry. He has had many successes including Ab Tak Chhappan - based on the life of infamous Mumbai police officer Daya Nayak, 'D' - a prequel to his earlier hit "Company" based on real life Mumbai ganglord Dawood Ibrahim and Ek Hasina Thi. Also with the Darna series, 'Darna Mana Hai' and 'Darna Zaroori Hai', he created an innovative path breaking Bollywood horror series but unfortunately both met with critical and commercial failure. Varma is still primarily known for his 'Mumbai noirs'. Daya Nayak is a sub-inspector with the Mumbai police force. ... Dawood Ibrahim (Urdu: , Hindi: ), b. ...

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag

Main article: Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag is a remake of Indias biggest hit, the 1975 film Sholay. ...

On August 31, 2007, Varma's production company (popularly known as "Factory") released Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster,Sholay. It stars Amitabh Bachchan as the villain, Gabbar Singh as well as Ajay Devgan who plays "Heero," the equivalent of "Veeru" by Dharmendra in the original Sholay. The movie opened to universally bad reviews criticizing almost everything from acting to cinematography to the soundtrack. Perhaps the strongest amongst all his critics was one man who sent a SMS containing highly derogatory remarks about the movie which RGV himself admitted and is alleged to have repented his decision in making this flop remake of the epic film [Sholay]. The contents of the SMS which shook RGV were: - Sholay (Hindi: शोले, Urdu: شعلے) (advertised in English as Embers or Flames) is the biggest blockbuster in the history of Bollywood, Indias Hindi film industry. ... “Bachchan” redirects here. ... Vishal Devgan, born (April 2, 1967 in Delhi, India), popularly known as Ajay Devgan is a two-time National Film Award-winning actor who appears in Bollywood films. ... Delawar Khan (formerly Dharmendra or Dharaminder (Dharam) Singh Deol) (Punjabi:ਧਰਿਮਨਦਰ (ਧਰਮ ਸਿੰਘ ਦਿਓਲ), Hindi: धर्मॆन्द्र (धर्म सिंह देयोल)), born 8 December 1935 in Sahnewal, Punjab) is an Indian filmstar. ...

"Hi Sir. To call Aag a piece of junk would be demeaning junk. What happened to the colours of Rangeela and the grit of Satya? No clear story, meaningless script, obsession with dark lighting, weak screenplay, and songs that are too high-pitched and outdated. You were in a hurry while shooting. Fast editing, nonsensical expressions, no romance, horrifying background music and choreography, cinematography is horrid, bad clothes, bad hoardings, bad amateurish dialogues, bad characterizations with no emotional graph for the characters,leaving the actors free to ham,outdated action, emotionless scenes, no comedy, no colour. You should sit and watch your film alone. No freshness, carelessness in creativity.You've become over-confident and you are losing touch with reality. You're handing over creative work to the wrong people. You're impulsively doing ten films at a time and not focusing on one project. You've enjoyed the shooting without caring about what the outcome would be. You're busy giving stupid interviews. What have you done in the past seven years except a couple of notable films?"

Says Ramu(RGV), "The above message shook me completely. It made me realize it's time for me to do some serious re-thinking about my career."

The movie does fail to inspire and it is a very poor remake.

Awards and nominations

Ram Gopal Varma has won the Nandi award (Awards given by Government of Andhra Pradesh yearly) for Best Director thrice for 'Shiva','Kshana kshanam'and 'Prema Katha'. “Andhra” redirects here. ...

He also has won Best Director (in Bollywood) four times for Satya, Jungle, Company and Bhoot.

See Also

v • d • e Cinema of India
Industries: Assamese • Bengal • Bollywood • Karnataka • Kollywood • Malayalam • Marathi • Tollywood
	Indian films A–Z • Films: Assamese • Bengali • Hindi • Kannada • Tamil • Malayalam • Telugu • Marathi • Urdu Actors • Awards • Directors • Choreographers • Cinematographers • Composers • Editors • Producers • Screenwriters Shiva(Telugu:శివా) (1989) is a Telugu movie starring Nagarjuna and his future wife, Amala which deals with violence and student politics inside the college campus. ... Kshana Kshanam (Telugu: క్షణ క్షణం) is a Telugu movie directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Rangeela (1995) is a Hindi-language movie, a product of the Bollywood film industry. ... Daud is a 1997 Hindi movie by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar, with music composed by A. R. Rahman. ... Satya is a 1998 Hindi movie, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Kaun is a 1999 Hindi film by Ram Gopal Verma starring Urmila Matondkar. ... Mast is a 1999 film by Indian director Ram Gopal Verma filmed in Austria, Italy, Namibia, and South Africa. ... Company is a 2002 Hindi film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi and Mohanlal. ... A hindi word. ... Naach is a 2004 Bollywood film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and starring Abhishek Bachchan, Antara Mali and Ritesh Deshmukh. ... Sarkar (Hindi: सरकार, Urdu: سرکار, translation: Government) is a 2005 Bollywood film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Amitabh Bachchan in the title role. ... Darna Zaroori Hai (Hindi: डरना ज़रूरी है, Urdu: ڈرنا ضروری ہے) is a 2006 Indian portmanteau film, in which an old lady tells six scary stories to a group of five children. ... Nishabd is a 2007 Bollywood movie directed by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag is a remake of Indias biggest hit, the 1975 film Sholay. ... Sarkar Raj [1] is the planned sequel to Sarkar (2005). ... Celestial track listing Save Me (11) Money Money (12) Tu amor (Navidad Mix) (13) Money Money is a song that is recorded and performed by Latin pop group RBD that appears on their first English language studio album, Rebels. ... Dil Se (Devanagari दिल से) (1998) is a Hindi film directed by Mani Ratnam. ... Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega is a 2001 Bollywood comedy directed by E. Nivas. ... Road is a 2002 Bollywood movie produced by Ram Gopal Varma and directed by Rajat Mukhejee, starring Vivek Oberoi, Manoj Bajpai and Antara Mali. ... Darna Mana Hai (Hindi: डरना मना है, Urdu: ڈرنا منع ہے) is a Bollywood production, released on July 25, 2003. ... Ek Hasina Thi (Devnagari: एक हसीना थी, English: There Was a Beautiful Girl) is a 2003 Bollywood psycho thriller produced by Ram Gopal Varma, directed by debut filmmaker Shriam Raghavan and starring Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan in the lead roles. ... Gayab (Hindi: ) is a Hindi film released in the summer of the year 2004. ... D is a crime drama and thriller movie, directed by Vishram Savant and written by Manish Gupta. ... // Spoiler warning: Mr Ya Miss is a story about Sanjay Saxena (Aftab Shivdasani); a philandering advertising executive and life was good as long as his ten girlfriends stayed oblivious to each other. ... Shabri (Hindi: शबरी, Urdu: شبری) is an upcoming Indian Bollywood movie, released in 2006, directed by Lalit Marathe and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. ... Shock is a 2004 released Tamil film. ... Darna Zaroori Hai (Hindi: डरना ज़रूरी है, Urdu: ڈرنا ضروری ہے) is a 2006 Indian portmanteau film, in which an old lady tells six scary stories to a group of five children. ... Darwaza Bandh Rakho (Hindi for Keep the door shut) is the name of an Indian Bollywood film directed by J.D. Chakravarthi released in 2006. ... Leelai (previously called Darling and Aaval) (2007) is a Tamil forthcoming film directed by film director, Kona Venkat who is making his debut in the Tamil film industry with the film. ... The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of the ticket sales and the number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 alone). ... Assamese cinema was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie Joymoti. ... Bengali cinema, or the Bengali film industry, is one of the earliest film industries in India. ... Bollywood (Hindi: , Urdu: ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. ... The Cinema of Karnataka encompasses movies made in the Indian state of Karnataka. ... Kollywood (Tamil : கோலிவூட் ) is a name often applied to the home of the Tamil-language film industry based in India, and to the industry as a whole. ... Malayalam cinema refers to films made in the southern Indian state of Kerala in Malayalam. ... Marathi cinema (मराठी चित्रपट) is one of the oldest in regional Indian films industry. ... Telugu Cinema refers to the Telugu film industry. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

External links

• Ram Gopal Varma at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with RGV