Ram Gopal Varma asks what’s wrong with objectifying Sridevi as ‘thunder thighs’: ‘If she had thin legs…’

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In turn, RGV took to X (formerly Twitter) and further objectified the Mr India star, claiming that part of her fame was also due to her “thunder thighs” in addition to her acting skills. He wrote, “Srideviji’s fame is not only because of her acting capacity, but it’s also because of her thundering thighs — top critics of Himmatwala time.” He subsequently faced significant backlash for his tweets, which many described as being in poor taste.

In a recent interview, Ram Gopal Varma himself addressed the controversy, maintaining that he stands by his statements. Wondering what was wrong with objectifying Sridevi as “thunder thighs,” he claimed that they played a major role in making her a massive star. “What is wrong with objectification? That was an asset she had apart from her talent. I think calling it objectification is objectification. How does a person become unique? There will be reasons. You should not limit it to the fact that she’s a great actress or a great human being. It could be due to this also. Why avoid it? When did I say she’s not an actor? I was saying they (her ‘thunder thighs’) also contributed (to her fame),” he said during a conversation with Zoom.

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RGV continued, “I personally believe if she had thin legs, she would have ever become a star. They were part of the whole package. If Amitabh Bachchan were 6 inches shorter, I’m not very sure he would have become a big star. Or if Shah Rukh Khan were 6 inches taller, I don’t know if he would have been a big star.” Reacting to the 2015 controversy, the filmmaker noted that he made those remarks in jest. He, nonetheless, added, “I believe she was an angel and no one deserved to touch her. That was my fantasy of her when I was a teenager.”

In his book Guns and Thighs, Ram Gopal Varma wrote about Sridevi, who worked with him in Kshana Kshanam (1991) and Govinda Govinda (1994), “She is one of the sexiest and most beautiful women God ever created, and I think he creates such exquisite pieces of art only once in a million years.” Maintaining that Kshana Kshanam was “my love letter to her,” he recalled, “We were shooting for the climax of the movie in Nandyal, and the whole town came to a standstill. Banks, government offices, schools, colleges, everything in town stopped functioning as everyone wanted to see Sridevi.”

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He added, “The woman who was the object of lust of the entire nation’s male population, was suddenly left all alone in the world till Boney Kapoor stepped in to fill the vacuum. So, straight from her superstardom, magazine covers and her dazzling beauty on the silver screen, I saw her in Boney’s house serving tea like an ordinary housewife. I hated Boney Kapoor for bringing that angel down from heaven to such an ordinary, humdrum existence.”