Failures saddens and humiliates the spirit, unnerves the intellect. Currently, this is what Ram Gopal Varma, RGV as he is popularly known, is suffering from — creative and intellectual bankruptcy. After his first burst of fame ‘Shiva’, RGV had arrived. He was built for the celluloid screen and dreams. He successfully leveraged the initial taste of success with Shiva. Kshana Kshanam, Govinda Govinda, Rangeela, Sarkar, Satya and Company followed with box office registers ringing. RGV, known for the craft of filmmaking, has won several awards for his outstanding films.
More than two decades later, RGV has lost the plot big time and lost his midas touch and alienated even his most ardent fans. Bereft of fresh ideas and creativity that he was once known for, RGV has become perversely boring. Some loved, some hated while others have critically reevaluated his movies. A self-proclaimed fan of Ayn Rand and once the Fountain Head of new age cinema, RGV has lost the spark and remains derided and forgotten.
The box office is a ruthless place, the best of the directors are not immune to failures. Films flop, and even though they may not be flat out bad movies. RGV, known for his gangster movies and horror flicks, has his share of colossal flops. There is nothing wrong there. But the serious problem is when a director desperately makes movies to stay relevant.
The controversy’s favourite child today remains a poor shadow of himself, even a clown. After delivering hits, RGV couldn’t live up to his own standards and his movies bombed at box-office one after another. The big worry is not so much about box-office, where RGV was left bruised many a time. His charm faded with time. The big worry, however, is that the ‘horror movies freak-out’ has today become a horror himself. The director had squandered all his fame, relegated to a nobody in the industry. His downslide began with Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, his ambitious remake of the 1975 iconic film ‘Sholay’. Department, Rann, Phoonk, Darling, Agyaat and Contract followed. With the Department, RGV proved he lost grip in his directorial department, ‘Raan’ did not give ‘run’ for the producer’s money, he is not audiences ‘Darling’ anymore, living in ‘Agyaat’ with no big film ‘Contract’ worth his salt. It is not the movies, but RGV himself has become a dud.
His movies today border on giddy lunacy and ‘cheap flicks with sexual kicks’ like ‘God, Sex and Truth’ featuring porn star Mia Malkova. At other times he helplessly shuffles from semi-porn to what he calls ‘harebrained thrillers’. His ‘Beautiful’ was ugly. ‘Naked, Nanga Nagnam’ bared the crassness of RGV. Not over yet, RGV thinks he still has it in him.
RGV is latching on to everything to stay relevant from politics to pandemic. ‘Amma Rajayam Lo Kadapa Biddallu’, initially ‘Kamma Rajyam Lo Kadapa Reddlu’, allegedly sponsored by the YSRCP was a big joke. Then came ‘Lakshmi Parvathi’s NTR’, a movie known to have been funded by the YSRCP leaders. RGV seems to spare none, not even the virus. Cashing in on the Covid-19 situation, he came up with a Telugu film titled Coronavirus. Netizens call him ‘Reckless Genetic Virus’ (RGV). During the Corona imposed lockdown, RGV has released several movies through the pay per view model on his app and website.
But the saddest part in the entire journey of his career is RGV lost gumption. Now, he is coming up with ‘Power Star’, a satire based on Pawan Kalyan;s life with the tagline ‘The Story After The Election Result’. Everyone knows, Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan is referred to as ‘Power Star’. However, RGV claims it is not regarding any real life person. RGV named the protagonist in ‘Power Star’ ‘Prawan Kalyan’. The trailer was already released. Naturally, Pawan Kalyan’s fans are upset about the film. Fans are hitting back. Coming soon: Parannageevi.
What a fall for RGV!!
