Bookshelf/Ramgopal Varma

The Rangeela director Ramgopal Varma grew up loving James Hadley Chase8217;s thrillers and later took to Stephen King. An avid reader a few years ago, Varma no longer finds time to go back to his books. But he has fond memories of his all-time favourites 8212; Ayn Rand8217;s Fountainhead, Mario Puzo8217;s Godfather and Neitzsche8217;s Thus Spake Zarathustra. quot;What I like about these books is their novelty of ideas,quot; he says. And Howard Roark from Fountainhead, is Varma8217;s favourite literary hero.

quot;I8217;ve gone through all that he goes through and yet, I have never looked at life the way he does. And even though he doesn8217;t achieve anything at the end of the book, he remains a hero,quot; says Varma.

Fountainhead inspired Varma to become a rebel of sorts. quot;I think subliminally it affected me somewhere, which is why I like to break the rules of cinematography and do it in a style which others may think is wrong,quot; he says.

From Godfather he learnt lessons of characterisation andstructure. quot;It helped me to stop looking at a violent film just in terms of physical action, and instead probe the motivations and compulsions of characters 8212; something I used in Satya,quot; he says. About Thus Spake Zarathustra, he says he hasn8217;t entirely understood the book yet. quot;I8217;ve tried to absorb it for the last 15 years and manage to get the essence of about two paragraphs each year,quot; he laughs.