Ram Gopal Varma reveals how the ‘worst film’ of his career paved way for his Bollywood success: ‘Because of Antham, I met Urmila…’

Ram Gopal Varma said that one cannot say whether a movie is a flop or a hit just based on a few elements like box office.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | September 26, 2023 08:09 PM IST

3 min read

Ram Gopal Varma talks about his film Antham.

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Ram Gopal Varma was unabashed as always in a recent interview with Galatta Plus about his career, the criticism of his recent films, and his upcoming projects. During the course of the conversation, RGV said that he considers 1992 Telugu film Antham to be the worst movie of his career.

He said, “When someone asked me in an interview, ‘What do you think is the worst film you made?’ I said people might think a lot of other films, but my worst film according to me is this film I made called Antham with Nagarjuna. And maybe there were other commercial failures. But for me, it is especially that film because the base material of that film which I had in mind to make it and what I managed to do with it is the reason. For example, something like Raat. There was nothing in it. Only with camera work, background score and sound effects, I made it work. Antham with great material I failed.”

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RGV added, “Then he (interviewer) asked me this question, ‘They say that something good will come out of any bad thing. Did anything good come out of Antham?’ I thought for a minute and I said actually my entire standing in Bollywood was because of Antham. And he said, ‘How?’ I said, ‘Because of Antham, I met Urmila.’ Now, because I met Urmila at a point in time I was inspired and I made Rangeela. This is one. Secondly, because Antham didn’t work I was so angry with myself and I rehashed the story and mixed some, changed some characters and put it in a new setting and I made Sathya. It is the same story. So, Sathya and Rangeela are my defining films, no? And they both happened because of Antham. So, now I don’t know if Antham is a failure or a hit?”

Ram Gopal Varma said that one cannot say whether a movie is a flop or a hit just based on a few elements like box office. The filmmaker mentioned Antham as an example and said that just because the film didn’t commercially do well, it doesn’t mean nothing good came out of it as his whole Bollywood success was because of the Telugu film. “I know in my heart both (Rangeela and Sathya) happened because of Antham. Only I know that. Nobody can know it,” he said.

Starring Nagarjuna and Urmila Matondkar in the lead roles, Antham follows the story of a hitman named Raghav who lives a lonely life. When a girl named Bhavana comes into his life, he develops feelings for her and wants to leave his life of crime behind. However, things aren’t as easy for Raghav.

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