Ram Gopal Varma

Infobox Actor

---

name = Ram Gopal Varma
imagesize =
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1962|4|7
location = Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
birthname =
othername =
occupation = film director, producer and writer
salary =
networth =
spouse =
yearsactive =
website =
footnotes =
imdb_id = 0890060

"Ram Gopal Varma" (Telugu: రామ్ గొపాల్ వర్మ, Hindi: राम गोपाल वर्मा), born April 7, 1962, is a Filmfare Award-winning Indian film director, writer and producer.

Varma has directed, written and produced movies across multiple genres - psychological thrillers, underworld gang warfare, politician-criminal nexus and musicals; and in multiple languages - Telugu and Hindi. "Shiva" (1989) is his first film as director and Phoonk (2008), his most recent one.

Some of today's finest directors, script writers, composers and actors have at some point or the other worked with Varma, particularly Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, A.R.Rahman, Anurag Kashyap, Jaideep Sahni, Madhur Bhandarkar, Puri Jagannadh and Sriram Raghavan.Penmetsa was born in Hyderabad to Penmetsa Krishnam Raju and Suryamma. Varma was a bad student in school and would skip classes regularly, something that strained his relationship with his family, particularly his father. In an interview to "Tehelka", Varma talked about that phase of his life, his relationship with his parents, and the reasons behind his decision to become a filmmaker-

Varma is a civil engineer by profession and graduated from the V.R.Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. Even during this period, Varma remained a film buff. He would bunk classes often and go and watch films instead - 8-10 films a week. He would watch the same film repeatedly "just to watch certain scenes which interested him." [ [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050702/asp/weekend/story_4921623.asp Don of the big screen] ] According to him, that is how he learned film direction.

After graduation, Varma tried entering the film industry, but couldn't manage it. He then put his dreams on the backburner and decided to go to Nigeria to make some money. It was at this moment that he visited a video rental library in Hyderabad. He loved the idea and decided to start one of his own, all because of his craze for films. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3932985.stm 'A filmmaker is like a journalist'] ]

Career

Beginnings

Varma started his film career in the Telugu film industry as assistant director for the films "Raogaarillu" and "Collectorgari Abbai".Fact|date=May 2008 His father was a sound recordist at Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad which is owned by Akkineni Nagarjuna.Fact|date=August 2008Varma managed to meet Nagarjuna on the sets of a film and narrated a scene to the actor which impressed him so much that Varma's dream of becoming a director came true. [ [http://www.bollywoodsargam.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9208 My best film is 'Bhoot'] ] The result of their collaboration was a film on the criminalization of student politics - "Shiva". The film was a blockbuster with Varma demonstrating his technical expertise and story-telling skills. The success of the film in Telugu led to a Hindi remake with similar success. [http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/apr/11ramu.htm All you need to know about Ram Gopal Varma and 'Company'] ]

Varma's next film was "Kshana Kshanam", another Telugu blockbuster which got him noticed by Bollywood critics. The film was also redubbed in Bollywood as Hairaan. Then came a lean patch with films such as "Raatri" / "Raat" and "Antham" / "Drohi". While"Gaayam" was a moderate success, "Govinda Govinda" was not so much. [ [http://www.screenindia.com/old/print.php?content_id=4023&secnam=films Different Strokes] ] During this period, Varma also produced films such as "Money" and "Money Money", and wrote the script for the Mani Rathnam film Thiruda Thiruda.

Varma then moved to Bollywood and started his own production company, Varma Corporation Limited (which later became the "Factory"), to produce and direct Hindi films, while continuing to direct ("Anaganaga Oka Roju", "Deyyam" and "Prema Katha") and produce ("Gulabi" and "W/O V.Varaprasad") the occasional Telugu film.

Bollywood

While Varma's first successful Hindi film was the remake of "Shiva", the film that really put the spotlights on him was the blockbuster "Rangeela". With great acting from the lead trio of "Aamir Khan", "Jackie Shroff" and "Urmila Matondkar", a fantastic soundtrack by composer A.R.Rahman (this being his first original score for a Hindi film), and with Varma at the helm, it was no surprise that this romantic musical drama was a runaway success. The film won Filmfare Awards for Rahman and Shroff. The film according to Varma was dedicated to Bollywood actress Sridevi.

His next film "Daud" sank without a trace.

Then came his masterpiece, the critically acclaimed "Satya", a film based on the Bombay underworld. A script written by Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla, music by Vishal Bharadwaj and Sandeep Chowta, a power house performance by Manoj Bajpai as Bhiku Mhatre and Varma's technical brilliance contributed to a film that was a landmark. The film earned Varma his first and only Filmfare Award - for Best Movie (Critics).

His most successful movie is "Company", again set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, in which he cut out song and dance sequences commonplace in Bollywood films. His next film as director was "Sarkar" and released in June 2005, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan played the character of "Sarkar" who is a self righteous and powerful politician. "Sarkar" went on to become a critically acclaimed box office hit.

Varma's ambitious Sholay remake "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" was a critical and box office failure.His film DARLING followed after this which was another dud.He Was written off by te media and public till June 2008 when he bounced back with his grand and much hyped venture, Sarkar Raj

His film "Sarkar Raj", a sequel to "Sarkar", released on June 6, 2008 was an average success and even his latest film Phoonk received positive reviews.

Filmography

As director

* "Shiva" (1989)
* "Kshana Kshanam" (1990)
* "Antham" / "Drohi" (1992)
* "Raathri" / "Raat" (1992)
* "Gaayam" / "Desam" (1993)
* "Govinda Govinda" (1993)
* "Rangeela" (1995)
* "Deyyam" (1996)
* "Anaganaga Oka Roju" (1997)
* "Daud" (1997)
* "Satya" (1998)
* "Prema Katha" (1999)
* "Kaun" (1999)
* "Mast" (1999)
* "Jungle" (2000)
* "Company" (2002)
* "Darna Mana Hai" (2003)
* "Bhoot" (2003)
* "Naach" (2004)
* "Sarkar" (2005)
* "Shiva" (2006)
* "Darna Zaroori Hai" (2006)
* "Nishabd" (2007)
* "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" (2007)
* "Darling" (2007)
* "Sarkar Raj" (2008)
* "Contract" (2008)
* "Phoonkh -The Black Magic Story" (2008)

As writer

* "Shiva" (1989)
* "Kshana Kshanam" (1990)
* "Antham" / "Drohi" (1992)
* "Raathri" / "Raat" (1992)
* "Gaayam" / "Desam" (1993)
* "Govinda Govinda" (1993)
* "Thiruda Thiruda" (1994)
* "Rangeela" (1995)
* "Deyyam" (1996)
* "Daud" (1997)
* "Shool (1999)
* "Shock (2006)
* "Darna Zaroori Hai (2006)
* "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" (2007)
* "Sarkar Raj" (2008)

Awards and nominations

Ram Gopal Varma has won the Nandi award (Awards given by Government of Andhra Pradesh yearly) for Best Director forthly for 'Shiva', 'Kshana kshanam' and 'Prema Katha'.

He also has won Best Director (in Bollywood) four times for "Satya", "Jungle", "Company" and "Bhoot".

References

External links

*
* [http://gomolo.in/People/People.aspx?PplId=979 Ram Gopal Varma profile at Gomolo.in]
* [http://www.indiafm.com/news/2006/10/30/8112/index.html Interview with RGV]
* [http://rgvarma.spaces.live.com/ Ram Gopal Varma's Blog]
* [http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2008/09/02/11866/index.html]