As public outrage over his controversial visit to the Taj, as part of the entourage of Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh refuses to recede, film-maker Ram Gopal Varma has come out to defend his actions. The film-maker admits he was “curious” to see the terror site and that he didn’t know that his visit would be deemed as a protocol lapse. Speaking to The Indian Express, Varma said, “I was just curious to see what had happened there. It isn’t as if I caused a security breach or that I disturbed the crime scene.”So can we term it morbid curiosity on his part? Varma shoots back, “It was as morbid as a crore of people watching the entire thing 24x7 for five days glued to their television sets. Everybody wanted to see it and so did I. I want to ask all these people who are outraged by this issue that if they were in my place where they had the option to see it, wouldn’t they have done the same thing.” Refuting stories that he went to the Taj to recce for a film he is making with Riteish, Varma says his presence at the terror site was “purely incidental”. “I had gone to meet Riteish for a story narration of my forthcoming film, Rann. Once the meeting got over, Riteish informed me that his dad was going to the Taj and he was going with him. I decided to accompany him,” he says. Varma claims he didn’t see anything beyond broken glasses, broken furniture and some bullet ridden walls. “It wasn’t as if I saw dead bodies, so why am I getting so much heat,” he asked. Stating that he was not insensitive, he maintained that he did not think his visit was ill-timed. “I didn’t go there for any personal gain nor do I wish to exploit the situation so I cannot be called insensitive.” Varma hasn’t been in touch with the CM’s office after the controversy surfaced, but he did send Riteish a text message conveying his sentiments. As to whether his visit was the flashpoint behind the ongoing resignation drama being played around CM Deshmukh, Varma says, “If that’s true then it’s even more dangerous than the terror attacks.” But the trademark RGV humour does surface when we mention all the SMSes that are doing the rounds on the issue. “Yeah, I’ve got 20 of them too,” he smiles. Ask him on which one is his favourite and he says, that the Sarkar one was “funny.”
