Ram Gopal Varma can be admired, hated but cannot be ignored. The National Film Award winning filmmaker is mostly in news for his offensive comments against prominent film stars like Rajinikanth, Sunny Leone and Tiger Shroff. After being vociferously trolled for his crude comments against Munna Michael actor Tiger Shroff, the 55-year-old filmmaker has quit Twitter.
But folks, RGV is more than his disparaging remarks against the members of film fraternity. He is a filmmaker known for dark political and crime dramas. Nowadays, he is going through the worst phases of his career as his films have tanked at the Box Office.
Shiva (1990): Ram Gopal Varma shot to fame with the bilingual thriller Siva in 1990. Starring Nagarjuna, Amala, Raghuvaran, Paresh Rawal and others, the film based on underworld’s interference in campus politics received widespread critical acclaim. Nagarjun plays a college student who is forced to jump into students’ union politics after his classmate and election nominee is brutally assaulted. The film was also a commercial success and the world witnessed RGV’s acumen. The director later made a prequel in 2006 that featured Mohit Ahlawat in titular role. Here is a scene from the film wherein Shiva bashes up local goon inside the college campus.
Rangeela (1995): After a dark thriller like Shiva, Ram Gopal Varma created a masterpiece in the form of a romantic drama Rangeela that took the Box Office by storm. Released in 1995, the film turned out to be a blockbuster that year. It revolved around a Mumbai girl Mili (Urmila Matondkar) who turns out to be a film actress. Aamir Khan played Mili’s childhood friend Munna who falls in love with her while Jackie Shroff essayed the role of a successful movie star. Rangeela went on to win 7 Filmfare Awards in the following year. Here’s a hilarious scene wherein Munna takes Mili to a five-star hotel for lunch.
Satya: Manoj Bajpayee shot to fame with the popular dialogue “Mumbai ka don kaun, Bhiku Mhatre.” The iconic punchline was from the 1998 crime thriller Satya that has acquired a cult status. The film was helmed by none other than RGV that dealt with the underworld-politician nexus. It dealt with the story of Satya (JD Chakravarthi) who comes to Mumbai in search of livelihood but gets trapped in the underworld. He befriends a gangster called Bhiku Mhatre who instills fear in the city. The screenplay was penned by Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bhardwaj composed the music of the film.
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Kaun (1999): Ram Gopal Varma and Urmila Matondkar teamed up once again in this psychological thriller that will give you goosebumps. She played the role of a woman who encounters an unknown guest while watching a news about a serial killer at home. The film written by Anurag Kashyap can be termed as a milestone in Urmila’s acting career as her performance scares the hell out of you. RGV’s directorial finesse earned tremendous accolades and the film turned out to be an average grosser.
Company (2002): The fallout between Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan is known to everyone. The latter survived a murderous attempt in Bangkok in 2000. Ram Gopal Varma made Company, loosely based on the functioning of D-Company that earned tremendous critical acclaim. Starring Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi, Manisha Koirala and Antara Mali in lead roles, Company turned out to be another milestone in RGV’s directorial career. Sadly, we rarely get to witness such a gem from him these days.
Bhoot (2003): Till now, Varma had made a psychological thriller Kaun that had turned out to be a critical success. He was yet to make a full fledged horror flick. Fortunately, he hit the bull’s eye with Bhoot that released in 2003. Starring Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar and Rekha, the film is indeed spooky and enough to give you sleepless nights. Avoid watching if you are faint-hearted.
Sarkar (2005): Inspired by Marlon Brando starrer Godfather, Ram Gopal Varma made Amitabh Bachchan portray one of the iconic characters of his film career in 2005 hit Sarkar. Donning a black kurta with a tilak on his forehead, Big B looked menacing as don Subhash Nagre who rules Mumbai with fear. The filmmaker was hailed for the cinematic treatment that is seen throughout the film. He later made two sequels of the film Sarkar Raj in 2008 and Sarkar 3 this year.
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007): When Ram Gopal Varma decided to remake Ramesh Sippy’s iconic Sholay, he drew more flak than the applauses. Amitabh Bachchan, who essayed the role of Jai in the original film, donned the villain’s hat in the new version and he would be cursing the director for this misadventure throughout his life. Upon its theatrical release, the film starring Mohanlal, Ajay Devgn, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Kothari received negative reviews and tanked at the box office.
Agyaat (2009): This horror film is one RGV would like to forget in his career. Starring Priyanka Kothari in lead roles, it mostly received negative reviews and tanked at the Box Office.
Department (2012): After Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, this thriller is another movie that Amitabh Bachchan would like to erase from his filmography. Taking cue from Sarkar, the filmmaker got Big B play a gangster-politician Sarjerao Gaekwad in the film. Also starring Rana Dagubatti and Sanjay Dutt, the film turned out to be a disaster.
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Satya 2 (2013): This dud is a classic example of how Bollywood fails in churning out sequels of the original classics. And who better than RGV can teach us? The filmmaker burnt his fingers in his attempt to recreate the old magic of Satya in the much-hyped sequel. And the results is known to everyone.
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