Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma recently produced the web series ‘Dhahanam’ and he reveals the reason behind making the show.

Ram told IANS : “So far all the crime dramas, political dramas that I have made as a filmmaker be it ‘Satya’, ‘Company’ they all are set in an urban area. One of the reasons why I found this story interesting is, it is set in a rural area, almost a remote area which is a lawless land.

“One of those places where even police fears to step in, even though criminal activities are happening there. When a story is set in a specific region, the place becomes a character itself as well as it impacts every character of the narrative. So, overall I found the story very interesting, demands a long format storytelling and web series is the best format for that.”

The show is directed by Agasthya Manju, also features Abhishek Duhan, Ashwatkanth Sharma, Naina Ganguly, Parvathy Arun, Ravi Kale among others.

Asked about why he decided to produce the show instead of directing it, Ram said, “As I mentioned that the region and culture is a crucial part of the story, I wanted a voice from there to direct the show. Now, Agasthya who is working with me for a long time also hails from that region of Andhra. I think he is the right voice for the show to direct.”

He went on adding, ” We must understand also that for a web show, the showrunner plays the most important part than just the director. For instance ‘Narcos’ has 19 directors, but the audience only knows the name of Chris Brancato, the creator of the show! That is how it works!”

As the show is also a milestone for Isha Koppikar who is making her web debut with the series, talking about casting her, Ram said, ” I think her character is the most relatable one, because she is the police investigating officer, coming from outside, entering the lawless land to resolve the criminal case. She is like the audience and the narrative unfolds through her lens to the audience. It couldn’t have been better casting.”

‘Dhahanam’ released on MX Player on April 14.

Ram Gopal Varma’s latest tweets on Allu Arjun, praising him for his blockbuster hit ‘Pushpa’, have caught the attention of fans.

Varma, who wrote a series of tweets praising Allu Arjun, later deleted most of them.

The ‘Shiva’ filmmaker took to his Twitter, as he targeted Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi and his family, by stating that Allu Arjun is the new ‘Megastar’. “All the other mega heroes will only be known as Allu Arjun’s relatives in the future”, Varma commented.

Some of Varma’s tweets appeared like he just wanted to tease family of Chiranjeevi and his son Ram Charan. While hailing Allu Arjun’s performance in ‘Pushpa’, the director had also tagged Allu Aravind for bringing such a talented son into the world.

These tweets had also triggered a section of ‘Mega’ fans, as he mentioned Allu Arjun as the next ‘Mega’ star, while they think intentionally ignored Ram Charan from the list of stars from the mega family.

Varma later deleted his tweets in which he called Allu Arjun the new ‘Megastar’, which is Chiranjeevi’s title in the Tollywood industry.

This is not the first time that Varma had commented on Chiranjeevi and his family members. He has passed comments on Pawan Kalyan and his political career earlier, which provoked a negative reaction.

Stating that nothing “murders” love faster than marriage, famed director Ram Gopal Varma on Tuesday said that the secret of happiness was to keep loving as long as it remained and then move on instead of getting into “a jail called marriage”.

Taking to Twitter, RGV put out a series of tweets on love and marriage.

He said, “Star divorces are good trendsetters to warn young people about the dangers of marriages. Nothing murders love faster than marriage. The secret of happiness is to keep loving as long as it remains and then move on instead of getting into the jail called marriage.

“Love in a marriage lasts for lesser days than the days they celebrate it, which is 3 to 5 days. Smart people love and dumbos marry.

“Only divorces should be celebrated with sangeet because of getting liberated and marriages should happen quietly in process of testing each other’s danger qualities. Marriage is the most evil custom thrust upon society by our nasty ancestors in promulgating a continuous cycle of unhappiness and sadness.”

Interestingly, these observations of RGV came hours after actor Dhanush and director Aishwaryaa Dhanush announced their decision to part ways.

The row over cinema theatre ticket prices in Andhra Pradesh continued unabated as the panel set up by the state government met on Tuesday but could not take a decision, while well-known filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma again hit out at the state government for taking decisions detrimental to the interests of film industry.

The committee met for the second time since it was constituted late last month to examine and rationalise the rates of admission into cinema halls in the state. The meeting was presided over by Principal Secretary (Home), Kumar Vishwajeet.

Film exhibitor Vemuri Bala Ratnam said they made suggestions on ticket prices, especially in rural areas. “We told the committee that with the reduced prices, the theatre owners can’t even pay the electricity bills,” he said.

It was brought to the committee’s notice that 200 theatres have been shut across the state due to slashing of ticket prices. They also wanted some relaxation in rules for theatres.

Committee member on behalf of cinegoers, Gampa Lakshmi, said they stressed the need for rationalisation of ticket prices. The meeting discussed suggestions relating to the provision of basic facilities in cinema halls.

The committee was constituted as per the orders of Andhra Pradesh High Court which had struck down GO 35, under which the state government had slashed cinema ticket prices.

The government said the committee will take into account all the factors relevant to the fixation of admission rates like classification of theatres such as multiplexes and single screens and the amenities required to be provided to the cinegores.

The panel comprises principal secretaries, information and public relations commissioner, law department secretary, representatives of film exhibitors, distributors and cinegoers.

Meanwhile, a day after holding talks with Minister for Cinematography, Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani), Ram Gopal Varma on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the state government.

In a series of tweets, Varma questioned the government’s action in cutting down ticket prices.

He urged the government to leave ticket pricing, number of shows and timings of shows to the film industry and just concentrate both its energy and resources on enforcing safety regulations and collection of its due taxes.

He wondered if the government is putting a restriction on the sale price of any other privately manufactured product apart from films.

“How can a Rs 500 crore film like ‘RRR’ and a film costing just Rs 1 crore be forced to sell tickets at the same price,” he asked, referring to the government’s contention that the ticket prices should be uniform for all the films, irrespective of the banner or the stars.

Some sections of the film industry feel that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government led by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is targeting his political opponents who are also the biggest stars oof Tollywood, such as Pawan Kalyan and Balakrishna.

RGV, as the Varma is popularly known, pointed out that Maharashtra is allowing Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ tickets to sell at Rs 2,200 but his home state Andhra Pradesh is not even allowing it to sell them for Rs 200.

“In another state, tickets being sold for even Rs 2,200 and in AP state if even Rs 200 isn’t allowed, isn’t it in direct violation of Article 14 which prohibits discrimination,” RGV asked.

After the meeting with RGV, the state minister had said that the government is empowered to fix the prices of movie tickets as per the Cinematograph Act, 1956.

The filmmaker said that the way the Act was suddenly dug out and implemented by the government after 70 years is unacceptable. He called for challenging the Act in court.

RGV also wondered why should the government have a problem with how much a producer is paying to a star, unless it has prior knowledge of some criminal intimidation or extortion by the film star trying to extract money from the producer.

“With regard to why Pawan Kalyan or any other star should be paid so much, if we break an i-phone and calculate the actual cost of the material used, it might not even be Rs 1,000 but it’s sold for almost Rs 2 lakh because of the idea, the brand and market demand,” he tweeted.

The filmmaker stated that what the government is not supposed to do directly, it is doing indirectly by applying an excessive exercise of authority by compelling tickets to be sold at lower rates.

He warned that forced lowering of ticket prices may lead to collapse of the theatre exhibition system or “the entire system will start running in black which will be bad both for the film industry and the government”.

Cinema owners in the state have been at loggerheads with the government ever since the latter fixed the new rates under a government order issued in April 2021. They say the slashed prices have made their business unviable.

The recent crackdown on theatres by the authorities for allegedly not adhering to certain norms has only made the matters worse for them. This has resulted in the closure of several theatres during the last few weeks.

While Indian cinema and its lovers are thankful to Ram Gopal Varma for discovering some fine talents like Manoj Bajpayee, Urmila Matondkar, Kay Kay Menon and films like ‘Shool’, ‘Rangeela’, ‘Satya’, ‘Sarkar’, and ‘Rakta Charitra’ among many others – it is the same audience that wonders why the fire is missing in RGV in the last couple of years as several of his Bollywood films failed.

The National Award-winning filmmaker, who is gearing up for his next release titled ‘Dangerous’, in conversation with IANS shares his thoughts.

Varma told IANS: “Look, I am the same filmmaker who is interested in telling a story that intrigues me at that point of time to make a film out of it. Why should I invest my energy and involve so many people in the project to tell a story thinking it will not be appreciated by the audience. But the fact is, their reaction is not in my hand, but my next story is. So basically I am the same filmmaker who is telling a unique story, and quite unfazed by the success or failure or any kind of reaction coming from the audience.”

Though it is visible that RGV has majorly gained popularity with a series of films – ‘Satya’, ‘Company’, ‘D’ – that has shown the underworld of Mumbai in a never seen before manner, and family politics on-screen with the trilogy of ‘Sarkar’ featuring the iconic Amitabh Bachchan; he also made unique stories of love with very strong representation of women.

‘Rangeela’, one of his most commercially successful films was a story of a love triangle. ‘Naach’, another such film featuring Antara Mali and Abhishek Bachchan – was a love story between an aspiring dancer and an actor. The film ‘Nishabd’ featured late Jiah Khan and Amitabh Bachchan was another story of love.

However, he says he never takes any lesson from the success or failure of his last released film.

“How can I learn anything from the last result because every story is different and I never did, I never will go by formula. I did see the success of ‘Rangeela’ but the next film I made was ‘Satya’. How could I learn anything from a film like ‘Rangeela’ and apply that to ‘Satya’ because the world of these two stories are so different, isn’t it?” explained Varma.

His upcoming film ‘Dangerous’ featuring Naina Ganguly and Apsara Rani – claims to be India’s ‘first lesbian love story’.

Considering the fact that several films on lesbian relationships have been made before, including ‘Fire’ featuring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, he was asked about his claim to be the ‘first’ and Varma said, “It is a different approach to the lesbian relationship.”

He went on adding, ” You see, all this while, films on the lesbian relationships are made, addressing the issue of LGBTQ+ . But post decriminalisation of article 377, no film has been made on a pure lesbian love story. In my story, this could have been a heterosexual love story too, where who individual falls in love and face a situation and how they get out of it. Instead of making the love story between a boy and a girl, we are making the story between two girls. I am looking at these same-sex stories as normal as opposite-sex love stories. My film does not talk about the LGBTQ+ issue but a simple love story of two girls.”

The title track of the film ‘Khatra’ is to be released on Friday.

Produced by RGV World, the film also features Rajpal Yadav and is set to release in November but the date is yet to be announced.

In a setback to controversy’s favorite child Ram Gopal Varma, the Special Sessions Court in Nalgonda gave interim directions to the director to stop releasing the film ‘Murder’ which is based on the real life incidents of the sensational murder of Pranay.

The petitioner, Amrutha, wife of the late Pranay, has sought a ban on the film’s release. Hearing the petition, the Special Sessions Court of Nalgonda has directed RGV to stop the release of the movie.

Murder is based on the real life story of Pranay and Amrutha, residents of Miryalaguda in 2018, who entered into an intercaste marriage. Pranay was brutally hacked to death by a professional killer who was allegedly hired by Amrutha’s father, Maruthi Rao.

In the petition, Amrutha argued that RGV was making the movie without her or Pranay’s family’s consent. Further, she had contended that RGV was releasing the movie at a time when she was coming to terms with life. She had appealed to the court to ban the movie as it will impact the semblance of order that she had found with great difficulty.

Amrutha had approached the Nalgonda court. Subsequently, the court transferred the case to the Special Sessions Court, Nalgonda which had also issued summons to director Ram Gopal Varma to appear before them in person or through his lawyer in relation to the case involving his movie Murder.