Photo: Vivek Oberoi in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra

For Ram Gopal Varma, only real life inspires reel life. So after he calls packup for the last time on Rakta Charitra, his bio-pic on the life of outlaw-politician Paritala Ravi, the director plans to work on a film based on the Swami Nithyananda sex scandal.

RGV is currently working on the script of God and Sex, and has said that the film would explore “all that goes on” inside ashrams. He is yet to make any decisions on the cast of the movie.

Swami Nithyananda shot into the limelight last month after an alleged romp in the bed with South Indian actresses Ranjitha and Yuvarani (according to some reports), and has since resigned from his post as head of Dhyanapeetam Ashram.

Ram Gopal Varma has not had a great run in Bollywood in the last few years, with some disastrous failures such as Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag (2007) and several horror flicks. His latest movie Rann, cast superstar Amitabh Bachchan in the leading role, but did not do well at the box office either. The director’s fascination with horror flicks has not ended despite few successes, and 2010 will see a 3D horror film from Varma titled ‘Warning.’

Ram Gopal Varma clarified that his upcoming film, God and Sex,  won’t be only about godmen and sex.

“My whole idea is to take a hard look at what happens behind the close doors of an ashram. That doesn’t necessarily mean sexual activities. It’s about power politics; it’s about [an] industry running behind [it],” Varma told IANS in an interview.

From the Nithyananda scandal, the director has drawn the conclusion that one can win over God but not over sex.

Ram Gopal Varma is juxtaposing God and sex in his new movie. “I thought about the interesting contrast between God and sex. You take all the bigwigs like N.D. Tiwari, a big politician, to Swami Nithyananda to S.P.S. Rathore – they fell prey to sex, interestingly. So no matter, even if you win over God, you can’t win over sex,” he said.

What really inspired him about the Swami Nithyananda story? Not the sex, he says. It was the fact that the self-proclaimed godman was watching Kannada film songs. That, he says, revealed how “normal” a man he is. “In his private life, beyond closed doors, he is a normal man,” Ram Gopal Varma Varma said.

“They earn in millions. No one is bothered where this money comes from. All are bothered that he had sex,” he added.

Vivek Oberoi, a follower of Swami Nithyananda and part of the Rakta Charitra cast, does not have a hand in Varma’s decision. Elaborating on the film, Varma said that he was intrigued by the number of scandals that godmen get involved in.

The director isn’t worried about rubbing followers and devotees the wrong way. He said his film would get more publicity. That just might work in its favour!

We will be keeping an eye on the movie, and when shooting begins, hope to bring you a few photos from the sets of God and Sex.

Varma has barely put behind the debacle called Ram Gopal Ki Aag, a remake of the classic drama Sholay – which he himself has called a comedy, self-deprecatingly, considering how terrible it was – is now courting the next one.

Amitabh Bachchan plays Harshvardhan Malik, Head, India 24/7 in Rann

Rann’s Jana Gana Mana track lyrics go like this,

Jann gann mana rann hai
Is rann mein zakhmi hua hai
Bharat ka bhaagya vidhaata…

No more. We are a pretty sensitive people here in India. So while big media can happily go around reproducing the entire lyrics of the Rann song, some people love to get us into trouble. Can’t touch a Times of India, so let’s kick this blogger’s butt, eh? Sorry guys.

Ram Gopal Varma said at the unveiling of the first look of Rann, “I have not tinkered with the national anthem. Tinkering would be if I would have shown it in bad light. I haven’t done anything of this sort.”

Riteish Deshmukh plays an investigative journalist in Rann

He said that the Rann title track talks about the disputes in the country, and had no intentions to ridicule anything.

The last time I checked tinkering was just fiddling with existing stuff, and had nothing to do with intentions, honorable or otherwise.

Since the national anthem is part of the Indian constitution, and Varma knows very well knows it, this just might be a ploy for a little bit of publicity.

Gul Panag as Purab Shashtri's girlfriend in Ram Gopal Varma's Rann

I am not sure about the exact legalities, but as far as I know, one cannot the changes the lyrics of the national anthem without prior permission of the government, even for the purpose of entertainment. And even if it were not illegal to do it, it would be a flagrant flouting of tradition.

And even if it wasn’t the national anthem, it is the original work of a poet. It doesn’t matter if it is Rabindrath Tagore or an unknown poet, you cannot tweak the work without permission, even if the poet is dead as a doornail.

So either way, Varma will have go to court, and I am sure he has no wish to do that.

Besides, the lyrics are so bad, I wonder if he even planned to use it in the movie.

Also, the official website of Rann, states the fact associated with the Indian National Anthem. And one such statement, which it passes as a fact, is in fact just a supposition. The line states “It was sung to welcome King George V on his visit to India.”

Now, the national anthem has been the subject of a great deal of speculation, whether it was written by Rabindra Nath Tagore to welcome the Emperor or an ode to God. If one has read any of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s work, and I have read all, there would be no doubt that Tagore would never write a paean to King George.

To pass off a speculation as a fact, is pretty irresponsible on Varma’s part.

Meanwhile, before the censor board came out with its views on the national anthem controversy, Amitabh Bachchan who plays a lead role in Rann, was quoted as saying that he had full faith in the producers of Rann, that they would taken the requisite legal permission to change the lyrics of the national anthem.

Rann revolves around the nexus between Indian media and centres of power, and how it is driven purely by business rather than any moral compulsion to report the truth.

Rann stars Amitabh Bachchan, Paresh Rawal, Riteish Deshmukh, Manisha Koirala, Gul Panag, Rajat Kapoor, Neetu Chandra, Mohnish Behl, Suchitra Krishnamurty, and Purab Kohli.

Vivek Oberoi to star in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra movie

Vivek Oberoi will play Paritala Ravi in the movie.

It’s after a long time that Ram Gopal Varma is making an interesting movie after the Contracts and the Darlings, with only an occasional Sarkar thrown in to keep the faith.

Now that he has got over his desire to make typical mainstream movies, he is, thankfully, back to making what he is good at.

Ramu can effortlessly portray gritty realities of power, its misuse, and the violence it begets, like he did in Company, by far one of his best films.

Vivek Oberoi to play Paritala Ravi in Rakta Charitra

More than that he can bring out the vulnerabilities of his characters, their motivations, and quirks in exquisite detail.

With Paritala Ravi’s character and tumultous life, he has a lot to work with. And, for once his casting his bang-on. Thank the lord, we have been spared the Prashant Rajs and the Gautam Guptas.

Vivek Oberoi has always turned in great performances but has not received his due.

He was brilliant in Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara, but he was hardly recognized for his role – neither was Ajay Devgan who did a fine job – because Saif Ali Khan had yellow teeth and a limp.

Not to say that Saif did not act well, but he certainly wasn’t exceptional.

Ram Gopal Varma has said in interviews that he was fascinated with Paritala Ravi’s life, a peace-loving man who got caught into in the brutal political conflict in Andhra Pradesh.

Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra is based on TDP MLA Paritala Ravi's life

“Rakta Charitra’ is the story of a man’s phenomenal rise to power and a story of the most intense blood curdling conflict ever heard of between two individuals. Moreover, the story is also the ultimate statement on the often heard disastrous consequences of a fatal mixture of caste, crime, family feuds and politics,” Varma was quoted as saying.

Ramu will make Rakta Charitra in two parts, Rakta Charitra I and Rakta Charitra II, because he feels that one part will not do the movie justice, given its dramatic content.
The two movies will be released in a gap of three months.

Paritala Ravi was an accused in numerous murder cases, who survived many murder attempts, and was finally assasinated in 2005.

Ravi’s father and brother were murdered by local factionists. He became a rebel, and fled to the jungles, plotting revenge for his family’s death.

In 1994, Paritala Ravi was elected as an MLA, and became part of NT RamaRao’s cabinet as Minister for Labor.

He was killed in broad daylight after attending a party meeting. After his death, TDP workers took to the street and burnt nearly 600 buses.

Congress leader Suryanarayana Reddy, known as Maddela Cheruvu Suri, was allegedly behind the brutal murder. In 2008, Suri was in jail, and was said to be behind the murder of Seenu, also in jail, the man accused of murdering Ravi at Suri’s behest.

Seenu  was set to turn approver in the Paritala Ravi murder case.

Suri, had earlier tried to murder Ravi, in November 1997. Ravi escaped but 28 people died in the blast.

Paritala Ravi himself was accused of murdering many Congress leaders.

Ramu has said that he has met the families of Paritala Ravi and Suri, and various people connected with the two.

Ramu has also met Suri in jail to piece together the story.

It will be interesting to see who Ramu will cast as Suri. As long as it in not Prashant Raj or Abhishek Bachchan, I would be happy enough with whoever he pulls out of the hat.

Ram Gopal Varma’s next, Agyaat, is in post-production, and will be released in July 2009.

While every producer, mainstream or otherwise, talks of good content ruling their choices, UTV has put its money where its mouth is.

Take a look at the movies they have backed in the past 10 years. Lakshya, Fiza, Chalte Chalte, Swades, Rang De Basanti, Life in a Metro, The Blue Umbrella (Which traditional producer would have touched The Blue Umbrella?), Jodhha Akbar, Aamir, A Wednesday, Mumbai Meri Jaan, DevD, and Delhi 6.

Their forthcoming releases include Umesh Shukla’s Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey, Prem Soni’s Main Aur Mr. Khanna, Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar, Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Rashee?, Prakash Jha’s Rajniti, Vicky Chopra’s Season’s Greetings, Shoojit Sircar’s Shoebite, and Robert Nylund’s Delhi Belly.

Ram Gopal Varma Agyaat poster

UTV has announced a thriller, Agyaat – the Unknown, in collaboration with Ram Gopal Varma’s Dreamforce Enterprise.

Agyaat is about a film crew that runs into all kinds of trouble while shooting in a forest. A bit like the characters in the Blair Witch Project, the film crew in Agyaat is terrorized by an unknown entity claiming one life after another.

Ram Gopal Varma has said, “For the subject matter of Agyaat, which is about a set of people trapped in a jungle and something out there killing them one by one, I had no intention of showing the entity that is creating the terror. It is imperative that the jungle substitutes for the entity that is killing them.”

The movie also focuses on the rapidly changing inter-personal relationships within the film crew. Stuck in a life-and-death situation, the fear strips off all their pretensions.

Photo: Priyanka Kothari, earlier known as Nisha Kothari, will star in Agyat

Agyaat has been shot in the Sigiriya jungles of Sri Lanka. IANS has quoted Ram Gopal Varma on the Sigirya jungles, “I have personally seen quite a few jungles in India like Ranthambore, Mudumalai and Wynad and also in Malaysia and Thailand, not to mention countless other jungles on video ranging from Indonesia to Brazil.”

“However, when I set my eyes on the Sigiriya jungle in Sri Lanka, it took my breath away with its sheer character. One might say that a jungle is a jungle but then you have not seen the Sigiriya forest. It’s both enchanting and terrifying at the same time. This is why I term it as a frighteningly sexy jungle,” he added.

Agyaat stars Priyanka Kothari, earlier known as Nisha Kothari. The movie will be released in July 2009.