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Ram Gopal Varma recently won hearts with his honest and brutal self-assessment in a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, he candidly admitted to being blinded by the success of his films Satya and Rangeela. After delivering these cinematic milestones, the filmmaker took on the monumental task of adapting the iconic Hindi film Sholay (1975) for his 2007 project, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Both Sholay and RGV Ki Aag starred Amitabh Bachchan in prominent roles. In a recent interaction, the filmmaker opened up about how Big B trusted him with the project and confessed that he had merely been creating a gimmicky version of Sholay.
Speaking to Galatta Plus, RGV revealed, “When I was making RGV Ki Aag, if someone had asked me, ‘Will it be as good as Satya?’ I was just trying to do a gimmicky version of Sholay. If someone had seriously asked me that question, I’m not sure I would have been able to answer.”
He was asked whether Amitabh Bachchan had questioned him about the project. The filmmaker shared that the megastar had immense trust in him, which is why he did not probe much. “That was his trust in me. He didn’t ask why. Them not questioning me was okay because I had a certain credibility as a director after making so many films. They must have assumed I knew what I was doing. I don’t think it was their place to ask, and at that time, they didn’t know how Aag would shape up. Amitabh would have thought I was making an interpretation of Sholay,” he explained.
Reflecting on his earlier failures, RGV shared an incident involving Naach (2004), which, like RGV Ki Aag, was a box office disaster. He recounted how SS Rajamouli couldn’t help but question his choices, given his reputation as a prolific and intelligent director. Opening up about the interaction, RGV said, “Whatever you make, it has to come from within you with sincerity, and I did not do that. I wasn’t even aware that I wasn’t doing it. I’m a very careless person, and I have a tendency not to take myself seriously. I also tend to become gimmicky or say and do things for shock value.”
He added, “In this context, SS Rajamouli asked me, ‘A person as intelligent and well-read as you, why would you do this?’ I told him, ‘I am not a filmmaker, but I also make films. I live my life on my own terms, and in that context, something like this will come.'”
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