RAM GOPAL VARMA

RAM GOPAL VARMA – Film Director

Ram Gopal Varma also known as RGV or Ramu,  completed BE in civil engineering from V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada.

After a brief stint as a site engineer for Krishna Oberoi hotel in Hyderabad, he 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, with the 1989 Telugu film, Siva.

Before Varma started his career in the Telugu film industry, he lingered on the sets of films such as Collector Gari Abbai and Rao Gaari Illu. His father Krishnam Raju Varma, 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 — Siva. It was a blockbuster with Varma demonstrating his technical expertise and storytelling 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. It 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 produced films such as Money and Money Money and was the screenwriter for Mani Ratnam's Tamil movie Thiruda Thiruda.

While Varma's first successful Hindi film was the remake of Siva. His next film was Drohi. What really put the spotlight on him was the blockbuster Rangeela. The film won Filmfare Awards for Rahman and Shroff. According to Varma, it 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.

In 1998 came his masterpiece, the critically acclaimed Satya, 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 Anurag Kashyap's screenwriting brilliance, contributed to a landmark. The film won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film.

In 2002 came his 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, common in Bollywood films at the time. It was based on the real-life underworld organization, the D-Company. It won seven Filmfare Awards and earned him a Filmfare Best Director Award nomination. Malayalam actor Mohanlal debuted in Bollywood doing an extended cameo in this film.

A prequel to Company was made in 2005: 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.

During the years between his 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, 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.

 Varma's next film as director was Sarkar, released in June 2005, starring Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek. Amitabh played the character of Sarkar who is a self-righteous and powerful businessman and social worker, while Abhishek played his son. Sarkar was a loose adaptation of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather. Sarkar went on to become a critically acclaimed venture.

In 2007, he directed Nishabd, followed by the ambitious Sholay remake, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, as well as Darling. 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 reappeared in their respective roles from Sarkar.

Phoonk (2008) was another horror film which was a success compared 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, it 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, in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi languages. The movie was based upon the faction backdrop of the Rayalaseema in Andhra Pradesh. As it lasted about five hours, the film was released in two parts, with a gap of three months. It 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, 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.

Varma roped in Amitabh Bachchan for the lead role in his film Department, the plot of which revolved around the internal politics of the police department. He was 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, nevertheless the entire film revolves around them. It was a much anticipated collaboration of Sanjay Dutt with the director after their earlier venture Daud.

Varma's recent flick The Attacks of 26/11 received huge critical acclaim for its brilliant portrayal of the real life terrorist attack on Mumbai which happened on 26 November 2008. His upcoming film Naanthan Da marks his directional debut in Tamil cinema.

As Author: Varma wrote an autobiography titled Na Ishtam, which discusses his thoughts, opinions and ramu style philosophy.'Naa Ishtam' was released on December 2010 at Taj Banjara, Hyderabad. Vijayawada MP and RGV's friend Lagadapati Rajagopal launched the book.

His cinematic works include:

Year	Film	Language	Director	Producer	Writer
1989	Siva	Telugu	Yes		Yes
1990	Shiva	Hindi	Yes
1991	Kshana Kshanam	Telugu	Yes		Yes
1992	Antham / Drohi	Telugu/Hindi bilingual film	Yes		Yes
1992	Raat / Raatri	Hindi/Telugu bilingual film	Yes	Yes	Yes
1993	Gaayam	Telugu	Yes		Yes
1993	Money	Telugu		Yes
1994	Govinda Govinda	Telugu	Yes		Yes
1994	Thiruda Thiruda	Tamil			Yes
1995	Rangeela	Hindi	Yes	Yes	Yes
1995	Money Money	Telugu		Yes
1996	Deyya	Telugu	Yes		Yes
1996	Gulabi	Telugu		Yes
1997	Anaganaga Oka Roju	Telugu	Yes	Yes	Yes
1997	Daud	Hindi	Yes		Yes
1998	Satya	Hindi	Yes	Yes
1998	Dil Se..	Hindi		Yes
1998	Wife of V. Varaprasad	Telugu		Yes
1999	Prema Katha	Telugu	Yes
1999	Kaun	Hindi	Yes
1999	Mast	Hindi	Yes
1999	Shool	Hindi		Yes	Yes
2000	Jungle	Hindi	Yes
2001	Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega	Hindi		Yes
2001	Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya	Hindi		Yes
2002	Company	Hindi	Yes
2002	Road	Hindi		Yes
2003	Bhoot	Hindi	Yes
2003	Ek Hasina Thi	Hindi		Yes
2003	Darna Mana Hai	Hindi		Yes
2004	Ab Tak Chhappan	Hindi		Yes
2004	Vaastu Shastra	Hindi		Yes
2004	Gayab	Hindi		Yes
2004	Naach	Hindi	Yes	Yes
2004	Marrichettu	Telugu		Yes
2004	Madhyanam Hathya	Telugu	Yes
2005	My Wife's Murder	Hindi		Yes
2005	Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon	Hindi		Yes
2005	D	Hindi		Yes
2005	James	Hindi		Yes
2005	Sarkar	Hindi	Yes	Yes
2005	Mr Ya Miss	Hindi		Yes
2006	Darwaza Bandh Rakho	Hindi		Yes
2006	Shock	Telugu		Yes	Yes
2006	Shiva	Hindi	Yes	Yes
2006	Darna Zaroori Hai	Hindi	Yes	Yes
2007	Nishabd	Hindi	Yes	Yes
2007	Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag	Hindi	Yes	Yes	Yes
2007	Darling	Hindi	Yes
2007	Go	Telugu		Yes
2008	Sarkar Raj	Hindi	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	Contract	Hindi	Yes
2008	Phoonk	Hindi	Yes
2009	Agyaat	Hindi/Telugu bilingual film	Yes	Yes
2010	Rann	Hindi	Yes
2010	Rakta Charitra	Hindi, Telugu	Yes
2010	Phoonk 2	Hindi		Yes
2011	Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju	Telugu	Yes		Yes
2011	Dongala Mutha	Telugu	Yes
2011	Bejawada	Telugu		Yes	Yes
2011	Not a Love Story	Hindi	Yes
2012	Department	Hindi	Yes
2012	Bhoot Returns	Hindi	Yes
2013	The Attacks of 26/11	Hindi	Yes		Yes
2013	Psycho	Telugu		Yes	Yes
2013	Ab Tak Chappan 2	Hindi		Yes
2013	Satya 2	Hindi	Yes
2013	Naanthan Da	Tamil	Yes