Pan-India films now focus more on spectacle than storytelling: RGV

Ram Gopal Varma, ahead of the rerelease of his iconic film Siva, said many big-budget pan-India films today prioritise production values over realism and narrative depth. He contrasted them with Siva, which he said remains timeless for its relatable characters and authenticity.

Mumbai: Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who is looking forward to the rerelease of his Tamil debut “Siva” and its Hindi version “Shiva” in theatres next month, says a lot of pan-Indian films today are opting for visual spectacles instead of focusing on compelling storytelling.

The Hyderabad-born filmmaker said his 1989 debut, starring Nagarjuna as a college fresher who gets caught in the nexus between local goons, politicians and a corrupt student leader, has stood the test of time as it treated its protagonist as an ordinary person.

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“My problem with the so-called big budget and Pan-India films is that it puts the entire thing in showing off production values, rather than creating a believability in the atmosphere for the story to be effective. I feel they are going in the wrong direction. They want to impress you with locations, sets and all kinds of stunts,” Varma told PTI in an interview.

Citing the example of a popular scene in the movie “Siva”, Varma said people still remember the moment Nagarjuna’s character breaks a cycle chain to fight the goons in the streets.

According to him, the hero was just an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

“If you look at the mass masala films, the hero comes in with huge background music, slow motion, elevation shots and all that, he’s already a hero from frame one. Then what is the point of his story? You already know he’s going to beat up hundred people, he is not a vulnerable guy.” Varma said “Siva” is a relatable story that can be set in any conflict situation and still be relevant.

“You can take the character of Shiva in any story because he doesn’t bow down to fear, his courage does not come from him thinking he is a hero but from the circumstances from where he rises up. That kind of character can be put in any story.

“Also, I don’t think the time period is important, you can change things, like instead of a college, you can put it in the underworld, or in unions or wherever there is unrest or some kind of intimidation going on, the moment you put Shiva’s character, it will change,” he added.

The film, he said, was shaped by his experiences in college. Varma was also inspired by Sunny Deol’s “Arjun”, Bruce Lee’s “The Way of the Dragon” and the movie adaptation of “The Fountainhead”.

“I was freshly out of college and I saw many of the incidents which I saw in ‘Shiva’ with my own eyes and the kind of characters it had. I thought it would be highly relatable because people always talked about it but you never got to see them on screen.” The movie, lauded for its realism and raw depiction of violence, has been cited as an inspiration by filmmakers like SS Rajamouli, Anurag Kashyap, and Ashutosh Gowariker, among others. Recently, actor Allu Arjun praised the film.

The re-release of the film on November 14 is not just another screening, it is a tribute to the 101st birth anniversary of Nagarjuna’s late father, Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), and marks the 50th anniversary of their production house, Annapurna Studios, the filmmaker said.

“When I revisit the film because of the re-release, the dimension in which I’m seeing now is vastly different from the point in time I made it,” Varma added.

The director said Nagarjuna, who made his Bollywood debut with “Shiva” the next year, was instantly excited when he narrated the story all those years ago.

“I used to narrate the story in bits and pieces. Like, I narrated a scene to Nagarjuna, and I still remember, it was when his friend is coming on the street after watching a night show and is beaten very badly by some goons. I could see the impact it had on him when I narrated. He was impressed with the way I narrated and the way I was crystal clear about the shot division and everything,” he said.

The film also featured Nagarjuna’s actor wife Amala, Raghuvaran, and JD Chakravarthy, who went on to play the titular role in Varma’s much lauded “Satya” in 1998.