The concept that films are made for entertainment is outdated, says South Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma.
“The primary job of any filmmaker is to entertain. I don’t believe in this concept because it’s outdated, and I think even a tweet can entertain audiences nowadays. Sometimes, an idea of working on a story can be more entertaining than the film itself,” Varma told IANS.
The Satya filmmaker had recently announced his next movie Shashikala, and had said it is the story of a “dearest, closest friend of a politician”.
“The idea to make a film on Shashikala is entertainment [in] itself and it doesn’t matter whether it’s filmy enough or not. I plan to start working on the project next year,” he said, without divulging more information about the project.
Varma’s latest Telugu crime drama Vangaveeti, which is in currently screening in the UAE, is his career’s “most violent film” yet, he says.
“It was during the sound mixing process that I realised it’s my most violent film. There’s a 15-minute sequence involving the murder of an important character. Everything that goes into the scene — from planning to execution — will strike fear in the hearts of the audience,” he said.
Based on the lives of politician Vangaveeti Radha and his brother Mohana Ranga, the film is set against the backdrop of gang war in Vijayawada of the 1980s.
Although he never planned on making the film, Varma said it was after he met a person over a year ago, who gave a graphic account of violence in Vijayawada, that he saw the potential in the story.
He admits it was very tough to acquires accurate information.
“Even though I met so many people while developing the story, each gave me a different version of an incident. It was really tough to stay loyal to the original story without getting the facts right. Nevertheless, I had to take a decision on what is believable,” he said.
The film features newcomers Sandeep Kumar, Vamsi Nakkanti, Vamsi Chaganti and Naina Ganguly.
