मुंबई, महाराष्ट्र: IANS के साथ खास बातचीत में डायरेक्टर राम गोपाल वर्मा ने ‘रंगीला’ के दोबारा रिलीज होने पर अपनी यादें ताजा कीं और बताया कि फिल्म बनाते समय आमिर खान, उर्मिला मातोंडकर और जैकी श्रॉफ को फिल्म के लिए किस तरह चुना गया। उन्होंने ‘रंगीला’ की रंगीन, म्यूजिक से भरी दुनिया की तुलना ‘सत्या’ की कड़वी हकीकत से की, जिसे उन्होंने इसके तुरंत बाद बनाया था। राम गोपाल वर्मा ने ए. आर. रहमान और आशा भोसले की तारीफ करते हुए उनकी पहली कोलैबोरेशन के बारे में भी चर्चा की।
#Rangeela #RamGopalVarma #AamirKhan #UrmilaMatondkar #JackieShroff #ARRahman #AshaBhosle #Bollywood #FilmRerelease #CastingProcess #MusicalFilm #Satya #Filmmaking #BehindTheScenes #Collaboration #90sCinema #HindiFilmIndustry #MovieMemories #DirectorInterview #ClassicBollywood #FilmMusic #CinemaJourney #IANS
#Rangeela #RamGopalVarma #AamirKhan #UrmilaMatondkar #JackieShroff #ARRahman #AshaBhosle #Bollywood #FilmRerelease #CastingProcess #MusicalFilm #Satya #Filmmaking #BehindTheScenes #Collaboration #90sCinema #HindiFilmIndustry #MovieMemories #DirectorInterview #ClassicBollywood #FilmMusic #CinemaJourney #IANS
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NewsTranscript
00:00So hello sir, welcome to INES and first of all congratulations for the re-release of Rangeela.
00:06Three decades, roughly three decades, three decades, the film has aged very well, not a lot of film,
00:12they have that privilege to know to be a timeless classic as good as Rangeela.
00:17When you look back at this journey, this journey that film has covered,
00:22the perception that it has built of itself in the minds of the people, how do you look at it?
00:26Yeah, see I think films when they age well, one of the main reasons will be the characters looking very believable
00:36and the story being very relatable, like this story can happen even today, that's the whole point,
00:42what I mean by that relatable and of course it set a benchmark for the way the songs were shot
00:48and the kind of music, the difference in music which has not been heard before,
00:54so there were many fuss I think in Rangeela and over the last three decades it kind of developed a reputation
01:02even the next generations watching, I think all this is what is prompted the producers to re-release the film.
01:12And when you were casting for this film, you had a rough idea and then you drew the entire universe of this film,
01:20such would be the characters, this is where it would be shot, all those nuances, small little things,
01:27but when you got into the casting, what was that one prerequisite for you that an actor who is playing these parts,
01:34who is playing Munna or who is playing Millie, they should have this one quality or one trait personally as human beings, what was that?
01:42See, most of the time in all my films, I generally tend to take references of real-life people,
01:49you know, so I used to know a guy called Ramesh back in college, he was, he was like what they call a dada, street tough,
01:58you know, those days students and they used to be hobnobbing together,
02:01so he was in love with this girl from college and she was seeing a guy who was far more handsome,
02:08far more, I mean, tall and rich, you know.
02:14So we used to instigate Ramesh to go and beat him up and then one day he told me,
02:20see, Ramo, I think she deserves someone better than me.
02:23That really struck a chord with me because I thought like love is always about being possessive,
02:30you want to gain her, you want to just be mad about her.
02:34But to be selfless and to wish well for her, if she gets someone better than,
02:39I thought that was ultimate statement of love to be hearing.
02:43That stuck in my mind.
02:44So that guy was my inspiration for Munna.
02:47Munna, yeah.
02:50Like Gurmila, I met many of the aspirants who just wants to be,
02:54but not to get a break and something, waiting for someone and finally someone comes into her life.
03:00So she's caught in a problem between respect and love.
03:04So they both, they have a very thin line,
03:06especially in the context of a man-woman thing, you know.
03:10Yeah, Jackie was very obvious because Jackie also again was based upon that particular guy in Ramesh's story.
03:17You know, and then I saw this film Sound of Music, 1960s film,
03:24which was one of the greatest classics and musicals.
03:27That really stayed with me, where I felt there was no antagonist
03:31and the conflict was in the situation rather than created by a person, you know.
03:37And then of course, Rahman's music in Roja was a very, very big inspirational factor after that, yeah.
03:43And while the music of this film was being made or while you were brainstorming,
03:51what was your one directorial note to Rahman sir,
03:54that's how I would want the music of the film to be.
03:57It should be on these particular lines, the genre should be such.
04:00Because it's a very diverse soundscape of Rangeela.
04:05See, so start with the most of my brief film was on the situation.
04:09It was very, very, like the opening thing was a philosophy of Millie's character.
04:17You know,
04:18So the point is a girl's individual statement on what she wants to become
04:25is coming from within the situation.
04:27Then Yaro, Sunlo, Zara exemplifies the difference between Munna and Millie's characters
04:32of how they look at life.
04:34Yeah, yeah.
04:35And his indecision of what to do comes in kya kare, kya na kare, you know.
04:39So every scene, most of them had that situational thing
04:45and which of course Rahman's with his unique vision and newness evaded that music.
04:51And a lot of people say that Rahman's music sounds so different in Rangeela compared to that.
04:56But that's mainly because of the situation briefing, I would think.
05:02And you made Rangeela, you know, this commercial potboiler of a film, you know,
05:07huge success.
05:08And then you go on to make a film like Satya, you know,
05:11relatively new artists on the block.
05:14At that time, who would know each of them would become,
05:16go on to become such big names in our cinema.
05:19While you were making this film, while you were making Satya,
05:23you had Manoj Vajpayee, sir, you had Anurah Kashyap, sir.
05:25Tell me, what was the switch of mindset like when you stepped into Satya from Rangeela?
05:32You see, actually, Rangeela and Satya were being, in my mind,
05:37made at the same time.
05:39Because that was the time I shifted to Mumbai.
05:41I was fascinated with the city.
05:42And most of Rangeela and also Satya were made in the same locations.
05:50Yeah.
05:51Though the genres might be so different in the context, you know.
05:54Because in the same time, an underworld thing can happen,
05:57a love story can happen, something else can happen.
05:59All of them living in the same city.
06:00True, true.
06:01In the context of that, yeah.
06:02So, I believe in the locations compounding the reality of what the thing.
06:09The characters look real mainly because of the location.
06:12So, most of the mainstream cinema, they don't care about it.
06:16If they make a love story, they want a picture-perfect frame
06:19and everything to be neat and everything to be airbrushed,
06:23which I don't believe.
06:24And I saw this interview of Pankaj Tripathi, sir, somewhere, like, years ago.
06:34He said that,
06:35the only address at that time used to be Ramu, sir's office.
06:41He said something to the effect of that Ramu, sir,
06:48just a person's talent other than how they used to look
06:51or how physically their appearance and everything.
06:54I want to know about this quality of yours to nurture a new talent,
06:58to support someone who might be, you know, brimming with talent
07:02but has no outlet to...
07:03See, to start with, I was never here to nurture a new one's talent.
07:07I just used them for my selfish purpose of
07:09how I thought they would enhance with their presence
07:13any given film or a character.
07:15I was never in the charity business of trying to promote or this, you know.
07:21And whatever they are, I introduced so many people.
07:23All of them didn't make it, so I can't take credit for the people who made it.
07:28It is their own persona or talent, I would give the full credit to.
07:33Yeah.
07:34Okay, okay.
07:35And what I like about you as an artist is your honesty and that reflects in your work as well.
07:40Now, you have been very open about your thought process or your opinions about the concept of or the idea of God.
07:47A few days ago, Raja Mali sir said that, you know, he is someone who doesn't like to believe in God and, you know,
07:52things went completely south from there.
07:55Yeah.
07:55What are your opinion on this that if someone has a belief system or for the lack of thereof,
08:02why is it that society treats them in a different manner?
08:05Yeah.
08:06See, we are living in a democratic country and we are protected by the constitution to believe
08:11or not believe or to believe in what kind of religion and I think it is in every right
08:15to speak what he had to say, though he said it in some emotional context of something going
08:20wrong.
08:21So, suddenly I think we have become very intolerant as a society ever since the social media sprang
08:29up.
08:30So, everyone is an opinion and they say things without thinking, without understanding, without
08:35anything which is a sad state but I guess it is a part of the social media's ecosystem,
08:40you know.
08:42And what makes me feel sad is they didn't even understand the context of where he was coming
08:48from, in the hands in terms of all the preparation is done to create a moment which is what a
08:54film maker does, a man of his capability, to cut, come to that and completely forgetting
09:00the context, I thought is very stupid.
09:04Yeah.
09:05Okay.
09:06Okay.
09:07And moving forward, this pan in depth film moment, it has been in, you know, in the industry
09:12for a very long time.
09:13We have seen films of Kamal sir, Rajani sir, Nagarjuna sir, but it picked more so after, it
09:18gained prominence after Bahubali universe, when it came into effect.
09:23You have worked with Mahmuti sir in company, you have brought talents from different industries
09:27and presented them to a larger audience across the length of the country.
09:33As a filmmaker, how do you see this phenomenon, the cross pollination of artists from different
09:38industries to bring something phenomenal to the audience?
09:41Hello, come again.
09:44The cross pollination of artists from the industry, like how you work with Mahmuti sir, different
09:48talent, you have worked with Nagarjuna sir as well.
09:49See, I think probably it is happening more today than before because of the so called
09:56pan India phenomenon which came in, where you realize suddenly if the film is good, it probably
10:01can work everywhere.
10:02Yeah.
10:03You know, so then it makes sense to not to think of it as an actress from which language rather
10:09than as an Indian actor.
10:10Yeah.
10:11It is an Indian film made.
10:12I think that is what it is the difference in the context.
10:17Yeah.
10:18Okay.
10:19Okay.
10:20And as a filmmaker, is it really tough to tell stories in the current times given that the
10:25world is hyper connected?
10:26The flow of information is very fast.
10:28You know, on social media anyone, if they have some certain information, they can pass
10:32it on in like a jiffy.
10:34Is it very difficult to tell stories in such an atmosphere around films?
10:38I wouldn't use the word difficult.
10:41I would think the filmmaker could be confused because when you see so many things which kind
10:47of a story told in what way might cater to which kind of an audience.
10:54I think that can disorient the filmmaker to make a decision with conviction.
11:00But my belief in that would be if you only stay close to you and you are telling a story
11:05to someone who is like you, that is the surest way to stay close to what you are intending
11:12to.
11:13And that is what I think Sangeet Banga does.
11:14Yeah.
11:15Yeah.
11:16To the extent of sticking to what his conviction is, I can't think of a single filmmaker apart
11:20from you.
11:21Okay.
11:22Yeah.
11:23And you are one filmmaker who is known for breaking technical grounds in the field of cinema.
11:29You literally gave a new life to how story could be told through cameras, the camera movement,
11:35the places where camera could be placed.
11:38Before you, no one can thought or would have thought, you know, that camera could be placed
11:41at certain angles to bring out or to enhance that story.
11:45As a filmmaker, as a storyteller, how you look at that technical graph while you are working
11:50on a film?
11:51Yeah.
11:52See, I basically believe films are nothing but an audio-visual matter.
11:58A story can just kind of help to create the moments.
12:03But actually, if you look at it when you look at a film after a long time, you don't really
12:07remember the story so much.
12:09Yeah.
12:10There are moments from it.
12:11It may be a short, a dialogue, a song or something like that, you know.
12:15So, to that extent, I believe in the newness of a visual rather than the visual being grand.
12:21If you look at something like Sarkar, for example, there are very few wide shots.
12:2880% of the film has been shot in one house.
12:31But you don't realize it.
12:32Yeah.
12:33As a power of Bachchan's close-ups.
12:34Yeah.
12:35True.
12:36But similarly, Rangil also, it is a musical, it's a visual, highly talked about.
12:41And it's been shot completely in India.
12:43There is no Switzerland, no New Zealand, no anything.
12:47That's because the camera angle in the context of what the artist is doing in the frame is
12:54what gives the newness of the visual.
12:57So, then when you talk about newness, that is not specific to any particular location.
13:03Yeah.
13:04Or a set or whatever.
13:06Yeah.
13:07Okay.
13:08And I want to talk about your professional equation with Sandeep Chautha.
13:13Phenomenal talent we have in the industry.
13:16You know, both of you have given us some memorable music.
13:19Background score of Satya, you know, it became a cult, still continues to be.
13:23When both of you used to work together, what was the give and take off or the exchange of
13:28ideas between the two of you?
13:30See, Sandeep first came into my playing when he heard the news that I was planning to make
13:38an underworld film called Satya.
13:41He himself made the theme and he made me hear it.
13:47He was Nagarjuna's friend and he made me hear it and I was really inspired by that, impressed.
13:52So, that is how we started our journey to must, to jungle, to of course, company and Satya.
14:00Yeah.
14:01So, he is also very passionate and his sensibility of music kind of resonates with me a lot.
14:07Yeah.
14:08And will we get to see both of your collaborations again?
14:11Yes, yes.
14:12Okay.
14:13Okay.
14:14And continuing further, as we were talking about, you know, the world has largely changed from
14:18the 90s to now.
14:19The way information flows that has changed completely.
14:22The society has changed along with that.
14:24The society has evolved.
14:25People's mindsets have changed.
14:27So, the Ramu sir of today, who looks at cinema in a certain way and the Ramu sir of the 90s,
14:34what is the starkest difference that you see in both of them?
14:37I really do not think there is a difference.
14:39Because see, as you are growing, it is not like you are stuck there.
14:42If you are updating yourself with the technique of today and you are well-versed with what is
14:48happening around you, you are kind of following the technology advancements, the kind of stories
14:55what people are watching, a new kind of directors coming and what they are doing.
15:00So, you are also in the same plane, both as an audience and as a maker.
15:04Yeah.
15:05Yeah.
15:06And, you know, there is this vintage Ramu sir whom everybody loves.
15:13There is an entire generation of engineers who has grown up watching your films in engineering
15:18hostels.
15:19They have downloaded films illegally from torrent which is not a very good practice.
15:24If, as an audience, I want to have that privilege to see the vintage RGV sir again,
15:31what would be that one film that you would like to retell in your own way, in the current
15:36context?
15:37I would not say re-develop something which I want to make again, but I basically want
15:43to from now on make films which probably I have never made anything like that or maybe
15:49no one is ever made.
15:50Even if it comes like I am bragging, like they say the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
15:56So, I am starting with this film I made called Police Station Booth, a horror comedy, where
16:02the basic one line story is an encounter cop kills a dreaded gangster and he comes back
16:08as a ghost to haunt the police station.
16:10So, I think the very idea of the film itself is a newness.
16:14Like, you know, when you say that when you are scared you go to the police, but where will
16:19the police go to when they are scared?
16:21So, likewise anything else I am planning from now on, I think you will see that novelty.
16:28And continuing further, you know, when you set out to make a film in the current context
16:33as we were discussing, of course, the way films are being made that has largely changed.
16:38There are now corporates ruling the entire machine from the pre-production to up till the
16:44release of the film.
16:45The way certain narratives are built for the social media, so that it, you know, the film
16:50could never be of it.
16:52In such a scenario, in such an ecosystem, how have you adapted and evolved as a filmmaker?
16:58I mean, the same way like what I mentioned, I do not think this adaptation comes with a
17:04conscious decision.
17:05It becomes an integral part of you, because you are going through the same experience of
17:09what is happening around you.
17:11Okay.
17:12Okay.
17:13And talking about the music of Rangila, you know, there is this very famous story which
17:16goes that, you know, Rahman sir and you were in Goa.
17:19Yeah.
17:20And he spent like two, three days at stretch watching just TV, because it was a, again,
17:24a novel factor at that time, colour TV.
17:26Hmm.
17:27And he saw some…
17:28I do not think it was colour TV.
17:30Okay.
17:31TV happened to be there in his room.
17:33Yeah.
17:34And I was thinking he was working on it.
17:36And by the end of the five days, he told me he is only watching TV.
17:40It never worked.
17:41Yeah.
17:42Because when you have all these channels, you keep on surfing.
17:45Yeah.
17:46Yeah.
17:47But I think this, there was, it was Mughal-e-Azam, I do not remember it correctly.
17:52Please correct me if I am wrong.
17:53It is from Mughal-e-Azam, he got the idea for Hai-Rama-e-Kya-Hua.
17:57No, not at all.
17:58I basically, my briefing was to him about one of the, my all-time favourite songs,
18:02Shekhar Kapoor's Mr. India.
18:03Mm-hmm.
18:04That is actually what my first impulse was.
18:05Okay.
18:06Okay.
18:07But then I said, I, I want not like a romance, I want it to be like a passion.
18:13Mm-hmm.
18:14And Urmila and Jackie are circling each other like almost beasts.
18:18Mm-hmm.
18:19In a meeting thing.
18:20Mm-hmm.
18:21And that kind of an emotion to be very strongly put in outdoor and in open places.
18:27Mm-hmm.
18:28So that is when he did this with all the tablas and the sitars and alaps and all that.
18:35And he gave a sanctity to the kind of a emotion.
18:39Yeah.
18:40I was capturing Urmila and Jackie.
18:41He could have looked very sleazy.
18:42Mm-hmm.
18:43And he gave it sanctity with the sound and then me trying to match the visual.
18:48Mm-hmm.
18:49You know, the Urmila's famous red dress.
18:52Mm-hmm.
18:53The reference he took it from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
18:55Oh.
18:56Okay.
18:57Or Francis Capullo's, yeah.
18:58Okay.
18:59Okay.
19:00And I think it was one of the first times that Hindi cinema in particular, the music was constructed
19:06or designed using the technology on a forefront.
19:09Yeah.
19:10There is this very famous story which goes by, you know, Asha ji was like, she was completely
19:16taken by surprise when she went into recording.
19:18Yayere, yayere.
19:19What is the story there like?
19:20No, no.
19:21That is not true.
19:22I was present there.
19:23See, the point is a funny thing.
19:26After we recorded the first song, me, Asha ji and Rayman were there in the studio.
19:31Okay.
19:32Now, she was in the recording room and the glass, Rayman was on this side.
19:38Mm-hmm.
19:39And the film song was over and he played it and then there was silence.
19:44Nobody is saying anything.
19:45Mm-hmm.
19:46And Rayman, he said, so what do you think?
19:50Yes, Asha ji.
19:51Mm-hmm.
19:52There's a silence for some time.
19:54Yeah, I think it's okay.
19:55Mm-hmm.
19:56He said, what do you think?
19:58She said.
19:59Yeah.
20:00He also said, yeah, yeah, I think it's okay.
20:04He said, no?
20:05Mm-hmm.
20:06And only I realized, she was waiting for him to praise her.
20:09Mm-hmm.
20:10Okay.
20:11Because she thinks it's her song.
20:12And he was waiting for her to praise him.
20:14To praise him, yes.
20:15Because he thinks it's his song.
20:16And only I as a neutral guy.
20:18Mm-hmm.
20:19Then I told them, see, the song is fantastic.
20:22Yeah.
20:23Absolutely.
20:24Because of this.
20:25Mm-hmm.
20:26And then they both started laughing.
20:27Mm-hmm.
20:28Yeah.
20:29Okay.
20:30Okay.
20:31And I want to know about the video of Kya Karein Kya Na Karein.
20:33I think it was shot near the Lotus Petrol from somewhere around the vicinity.
20:36Some parts.
20:37Some parts.
20:38The bulk of the song was shot in Chennai.
20:39Mm-hmm.
20:40Okay.
20:41Okay.
20:42And talking about the choreography of the film, very new for its time.
20:45You know, the movements.
20:47Correct.
20:48The choreography in totality.
20:49Correct.
20:50What was your brief to the choreographer like for the song?
20:53See, but see one thing.
20:54Mm-hmm.
20:55The Raman's music is so different.
20:57Mm-hmm.
20:58It doesn't give the choreographer a choice to be usual.
21:02Mm-hmm.
21:03Yeah.
21:04Is one part.
21:05And second, Ahmed Khan was doing it for the first time.
21:07Because, and Ahmed was very passionate and he was just starting out of his career.
21:12Mm-hmm.
21:13And to get an opportunity with such different sound in a song.
21:16Yeah.
21:17I think a combination of that is what created that.
21:19Okay.
21:20Okay.
21:21So, with that we have reached the end of this conversation.
21:22Yeah.
21:23If there is anything that I may have missed asking or something that you would have loved to
21:26talk about.
21:27So, please feel free.
21:28I think you have covered everything.
21:30Perfect.
21:31So, on that note, thank you so much.
21:32It was a pleasure and an honor having this conversation.
21:33Okay.
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