Over to big game hunting
ANUJ KUMAR
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He chisels heroes out of villains. Remember Bhiku Mhatre and Malik? This week they get an extension with Subhash Nagare. Ram Gopal Varma on "Sarkar," his biggest film with the biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan.
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ORDER ORDER! In "Sarkar" Ram Gopal Varma treads the familiar territory of crime in an unfamiliar way. The film has some intense scenes between the two Bachchans.
We know he rarely gives himself away. His speech is mostly short, always sharp and forever straight. One hoped things would be a bit different this time considering he is coming with the biggest film of his career with a star who is the ultimate object of desire for any director in India.
He disappoints. No overt excitement - face as expressionless as ever. Ram Gopal Varma thrives because he is inimitable. This doesn't mean he doesn't have a media plan up his sleeve.
Anticipating queries on his fascination with the underworld, he declares, "`Sarkar' is a family film. You remove all the dance sequences and lavish sets from films like `Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, what you get is `Sarkar'."
A quotable quote considering he has himself declared that the film is based on Mario Puzo's "Godfather", arguably the ultimate crime story written in modern history captured with unparalleled success on screen by Francis Ford Coppola.
The story has such intensity that besides many others our very own Feroze Khan and Priyadarshan facsimiled the original as "Dharmatma" and "Viraasat" and walked away with the box office glory.
"It's true had there been no `Godfather' there would have been no `Sarkar.' Yes, after `Satya' and `Company' it completes my trilogy of films on crime but it is not an underworld film. It's about a man Subhash Nagare, who is above law, and his family."
Ask him if the film opens the "Godfather" way with Subhash dispensing justice to a wronged father. "Smart! How did you know? Yes, it is a strong sequence, so we have retained it."
Novel inspiration
Still, Varma insists more than the film it's the novel that he has used as the reference point.
"I find the novel much more gripping. It has a mythological feel to it. I have seen the film hardly two-three times but I have pored over the novel five-six times and discovered something new every time."
Again he asserts apart from the basic structure, the film has its own script and structure. "Don Vito Corleone flourished by using the loopholes in the system, here Subhash Nagare does it openly.
He writes his own law, dispenses justice and has the public support to flaunt. Also Don was an Italian immigrant to the U.S., here Subhash is a complete Maharashtrian. We have created a rural look with urbane sophistication." Ample proof of similarities with Shiv Sena supreme Bal Thackeray?
"That people like Balasaheb exist in the society brings `Sarkar' closer to reality but again the film is not about him. There are no political overtones either."
Somebody who has always maintained he doesn't like working with stars, has given in to the biggest of them all. "I have always said I don't believe in the Friday stars. Mr. Bachchan was the requirement of the script as was Abhishek and Supriya Pathak (opposite Amitabh).
The script required the biggest possible star and there can't be two views on that. I believe Marlon Brando was also cast for the same reason though he was not that big a star in Hollywood at that time as Mr. Bachchan is today."
Directing the Bachchans
He continues, "I didn't get into directing him. I wanted him to be the Bachchan of `Zanjeer' `Deewar' and `Trishul' - larger than life without compromising on the understated elegance.
The screenplay where emphasis is as much on expressions as on dialogues provides him the opportunity. I have always seen a star in him. I can't see him in a `soft' role like `Baghban' or `Black.' "
As for the Junior Bachchan, who is playing Amitabh's younger volatile son, Varma insists his potential has not been tapped. "He can portray intense characters like no other. That's why I have repeated him after `Naach'. He has managed to stand up to his father in the film."
Time to take him to the specifics of his favourite genre where his Factory seems to be rationalising crime. Minus hero, every product is rolled out with villains with varying shades of grey. And the audience is induced to sympathise with one anti-hero - "D" being the latest.
"I believe that's how life is." Agreed, but no remorse... anti-heroes driving sadistic pleasure in not killing the weak opponent.
In "Sarkar" he has used Gandhiji's lines in the promotion to establish his anti-hero."I don't believe in self-righteousness. There are people like these in the society. Subhash Nagare is antithesis of everything Gandhiji stood for." Isn't it also a fantasy, though of a different order, where metro audience are taking to a world they haven't seen but crave for in their sub-conscience?
"It is. I have never said I am making a real film. I make drama and try to bring it as closer to reality as I can. However, my four-five films on crime are much less than the romantic fantasies that flood the industry every year."
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