After some ‘Me Time’ it’s RGV Time. All over again.
Thanks to Oprah Winfrey’s Therepautic Magic on the Tube, ‘Me Time’ has become an emancipator for stressed souls all over. ‘Me Time’ is prescribed as remedy for people who think they are “endlessly fulfilling every obligation except the one to themselves”. Maybe all RGV needed was to do what he needed to do to keep himself going. Which partly explains the recent spate of disasters RGV has indulged-in. RGV was a Director, Interrupted! RGV definitely required taking his ‘Me Time’ away from what he’s been churning endlessly (& self-destructively). I would like to believe that making his recent duds acted as ‘Me Time’ for RGV. That, or the self-reflexive period, immediately after the much-mocked & sullied films, that has arrived an introspective RGV when he admits today
When I took Manoj Bajpai in Satya or Vivek Oberoi in Company I wasn’t launching stars. I used them because they were right for the roles. But when the media and my associates started praising me it went to my head. I began seeing myself as a star-maker. I went into the trip of launching new actors. When I signed Mohit Ahlawat and Prashant Raj, I presumed they were stars before the film was made. I was being more and more sucked into a fantasy-land. Doing multiple films at such a fast pace in this state of mind was a potent and lethal blend. Hence, the sabbatical. Now I’m far more clear-headed.
My favorite RGV’s have been
Kshana Kshanam,
Naach,
Darna Zaroori Hai &
Nishabd
along with the universally-liked usual suspects of
Shiva,
Satya,
Kaun &
Company.
I first watched an RGV film as a 10 yr old summer vacationing in Chittor (A.P) in whose Andhra-Tamilnad border town the Tamil dubbed version of Shiva called Udhayam was playing. I hardly understood what adults around me were fussing over till the effect of the film made me want to rent the VHS tapes (& the VHS player) couple of years later in an RGV Grindhouse/Double-Bill of the original Telugu Shiva [with Nagarjuna, Amala, Raghuvaran] & Kshana Kshanam [with Venkatesh, Sridevi, Paresh Rawal].
RGV’s most alluring quality as a filmmaker, for me, has been his Hi-Fidelity to the genres he’s invested in. As a genre filmmaker RGV’s achievement has been superlative; each genre film of his has become a benchmark for whoever else attempts to dabble in the genre. Be it the groundbreaking gangster quadruple of Shiva, Satya, Company & Sarkar, the adventure/treasure-hunt trinity of Kshana Kshanam, Govinda Govinda, Thiruda Thiruda (which he co-wrote), the romantic/personal in Rangeela, Mast, Naach & Nishabd, the horror in Raat, Kaun, Bhoot, & Darna Zaroori Hai. A further testimony to his genre-expertise is the designation of a new sub-genre Mumbai Noir ascribed to RGV’s Gangster films set in Mumbai.
An anecdote would share the amount of (justified) envy that RGV has induced for aspiring/wannabe filmmakers. In the days as a photographer, in my final year of undergrad college, a Telugu-speaking much-older-than-my-20 yrs-colleague suggested we watch the newly released RGV film Kaun. Dabbling in Fashion Photography this Married friend was semi-seeing an aspiring model, which lately attracted the wife’s dedicated suspicion. Since he genuinely was looking forward to watching the film, & to alleviate wife’s suspicion of using the film as an excuse, he suggested I park my moped in his compound while we take his scooter to the cinema, & return together. He even paid for my ticket for the matinee at the Lido cinema in Bangalore. I was (unconsciously) enjoying the claustrophobic setting of the film, but being the pure-cinematic-snob that I was, I started, successfully, finding faults with the film – Urmila’s unnecessarily-pouting lips, Manoj Bajpai’s rudimentary English-speaking, & the Cock-Tease of a lengthy set-up. The colleague was thoroughly enjoying the proceedings, but I wouldn’t have any more of the film. Nor would he have the cover of my company. These were my days of walking-out of films that I didn’t approve of, in the good-old tradition of our parliamentarians. Walkout of the film I did. And I needed to have my moped for the sojourn through the city. I rode a bus back to his place, & as I unlocked the vehicle & about to leave I had unwittingly alerted the wife who was in her siesta. She, understandably, wouldn’t believe my walking-out-of-the-film story. The friend had hell to pay for, & presumably, grounded! As soon as I was ready to confront the brilliance of the film I started appreciating, & enjoying the Cock-Tease that pays off very well with the manner in which the film climaxes.
RGV is back this year with Sarkar Raj, a sequel of his Nayakan tribute Sarkar, & with Contract, a gritty gangster film that would join the list of films in the RGV-invented sub-genre – Mumbai Noir.
In my opinion, RGV is India’s Roger Corman!
[Update: Here’s my review of one of my favorite RGV films.]
thani.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
If he’d said this… I’ve started to respect him alot… it takes something to accept reality, and Ramu did that… great Ramu… I wish other director could too do so…
I think the same ….i hope he comes back …and rocks bigtime ….
when is “Showman” Subhash Ghai gonna say something like this?
RGV coming back to his old self..Amen to that…When i saw Nishabd I thought RGV’s coming back to his old self..but Aag happened and shocked me that someone could fall so low :o Hope this time he really comes back with Sarkar Raj.
PS: U loved Darna Zaroori Hai did u..then pl dont read Oz’s review in Desitrain..it’s gonna make u cry..
THE man is coming back!!!
High Time…
we hate ramu bcoz we love him
why is rangeela missing from the list?
@KJ
two reasons:
1. it’s my list, & not RGV’s :-)
2. at this rate i would’ve ended-up enumerating RGV’s (enviable) body of work :-)
@sudhir nair
i didn’t heed your friendly warning. i enjoyed reading Oz’s brilliant Desitrain post. but Oz is Oz, & i am me, aren’t we?
what say Ozzie? :-)
here you go http://passionforcinema.com/darna-zaroori-hai-spoiler-defying-camera-as-ghost/
Because of his diabolical year 2007… the RGV Factory produced Shabri (the film is not even directed by RGV!) didn’t get a release.. which is ready to hit the theater… but i hope after rgv getting some success.. buyers will be willing to release Shabri…
I’m glad that RGV made SATYA .. or i wouldn’t have been inspired to make movies ..
am looking forward to srakar raj, though I didnt like the first one much
‘we hate ramu bcoz we love him’
lol
Good one, Thani.
no Daud in the list? I am sure you have some anecdotes/memories around that too. btw, Lido has now resurfaced as Fame, as all the other new multiplexes in town.
In one of his interviews RGV said he would never grow up.. and would remain the brat he was when he started off making films… problem is …we grew up..!!
ramu ji ki mai bahut izzat karta hu.coz mai bhi ramu ji ki tarha directer banna chahta hu.aur meri ye dili tamana hai ki mai as a actor ,director ramu ji k saath kaam karu …
maine is k liye kosish bhi ki lekin par asfal raha
lekin abhi bhi isi me laga hu
aur shyed hi mere ye sapna pura ho
aur ramu ji mere godfhather ban jaye….
upcoming star director & actor
mein abhishek bachan bun na chahta hu
y not
jub ramu ji madhuri ban nan chati hu bana sakte hai
to yeh kyon nahi
mujhe badi dilli tammana hai ki ek baar ramu ji ke sath kaam karu as a actor
shayad kabhi ramu ji se mulakat ho jaye