Ram Gopal Varma Question And Answers #31
301. Why are you fond of
camera shots that move close to the ground?
Ans: I think it’s the infantile nature in me. I like crawling.
302. What do you think of
the Telugu Industry?
Ans: I don’t think of anything except myself.
303. How did you conceive
the scene at the railway crossing in Shiva where Nagarjuna rescues Amala?
Ans: Obviously from my imagination. An interesting thing happened at
location when I was shooting that scene. My assistant director walked up to me
and said it’s very illogical that there are no other vehicles near the
crossing. The kidnapping has happened in the city and there is no reason that
the goons will be taking her out of the city. Also since Nagarjuna is on the
other side of the gate, he could not have been coming from out of city. So for
all practical purposes the incident was happening in the city. Conveniently
during the entire built up of Nagarjuna watching them and slowly walking around
and delivering his lines, there are neither the railway guards nor any people
or vehicles in the vicinity. I told him that the audience will be hooked on to
what is happening with Nagarjuna and Amala and with the music and his
expressions and the situation their mind won’t go to those things. He was not
convinced and was quite shocked that nobody brought it up after the release.
This is a classic case of illustrating the strength of Alfred Hitchcock’s
line “where drama begins logic ends”.
He is supposed to have come up with this line while he was filming “North
by Northwest”, where there is a scene when the hero is being chased by the
baddies. As he is running to escape he gets onto a train. Just when the
audience thinks he has escaped there are baddies on the train too. Here his
assistant asked him that how will the baddies know that he will get onto the
train to which Hitchcock replied that the audience will be driven by the
emotion whether he will escape and hence will not think. That’s the difference
between a book and a movie.
In a book you can stop reading and think whereas in a movie its pace that
controls your thinking.
Also an example of this is in Satya when Khandilker closes the doors of the
movie theatre and walks into the theatre and announces to the crowd that there
is a dangerous gangster among them which is logically very stupid.
Realistically, in a situation like that they would come in plain clothes and
ask the informants to point him out as the audiences are coming out so that
they can nab him unaware.
Why would they forewarn a dangerous gangster who is in the crowd so that he
can take anybody hostage there.
Here my thrust was to manipulate the audience into thinking in the
direction of how Satya will escape without Urmila coming to know his identity
and hence in the drama they will miss the larger picture of logic.
When Sandeep Chowta started doing background, he and his musicians felt
that the scene was ridiculous because of the same reasons. I thought maybe I
stretched the drama versus logic too far this time but it was too late to do
anything about it. I couldn’t come up with a solution so I had no choice but to
release the film as it is.
After the release and 10 years since, I have not met a single guy who had a
problem with that. Now why Sandeep and his team felt and nobody else did after
that is anybody’s guess. I would think that Sandeep’s team was watching the
film in parts as he was doing the music and hence they were emotionally not
involved.
Yet another example is the climax of Rangeela. If the premiere ended at
presumably 12:30 in the night, Jackie and Urmila come to Pakya. Jackie just
asks him where is Munna and I cut to shot of Munna lying on top of a truck. Now
whose tempo is that, I never established a vehicle for Munna in the film, so either
it is being driven by a friend of his who is going somewhere or he is just
taking a random ride. If it is a random vehicle how will Pakya know how he is
going? Were Jackie and Urmila driving for 6 hours in the night since 12:30 and
looking for what? Conveniently for them to spot him, I made Munna lie on the
top. If he was inside and Jackie stopped it, it would have raised unnecessary
questions in the audience’s mind or whose vehicle is it, on the other hand if
the driver is a known guy to Munna, who is he? To escape that logic I just
simply applied the oldest trick in the trade “out of sight is out of mind”.
After Aamir gets out and the long drama starts between the three, I composed
all the frames in such a way that both the truck and the driver were out of the
frame not letting the audience mind wonder from the point of the scene.
If you look at it, the climax scene could have happened in the night too if
Pakya said Munna just left and maybe he can catch him walking around the conner
of the road but I strongly felt that the climax scene for a film like Rangeela
should not happen in the night. It should be a picturesque location to give a
feel good finishing. Max logic I applied was to treat the scene as early
morning light so as not to give a visual jump.
Anyways to cut a long story short very frequently whenever I get into such
above predicaments I just say “Jai Alfred Hitchcock” and go ahead.
304. Do you ever advise
people?
Ans: Yes, I advise them not to ask advice.
305. It seems like you are a
very dry person?
Ans: Yeah but I sure like wet things.
306. Ambitious, arrogant,
honest, creative, impersonal, detached and eccentric/ neurotic = RGV?
Ans: You can also add liar, con, complex, funny, impulsive, impatient,
contradictory and distrustful.
307. The only unselfish
relationship is that of a child taking care of his aged parents.
Ans: From that to Gandhiji giving his life to the country to Mother Teresa
working for the lepers are acts of emotional indulgence which are choices made
by those particular individuals and do not concern selfish individuals like me.
308. The last film I saw of
yours was Darna Zarori hai. Which of your subsequent films would you recommend
to me?
Ans: None
309. With whom will you
share your happiness?
Ans: If it does not strain your brains too much try to ask a little more
intelligent question.
310. You name a movie after
a girl, whom you met long back, just to remind her that you still remember and
you still claim that you don’t give in for relations.
Ans: Hmmm… You got me there.