I am worse than what the public thinks...

Maverick director Ram Gopal Varma will soon be back in theatres with the film ‘Ice Cream’, a thriller starring Tejaswi and Navdeep. With new technology in hand, and a new face in tow, the director is all set to woo the audience. Ahead of the film’s release, he speaks to Hans Talkies. Excerpts from the interview:

The title ‘Ice Cream’ conveys something lovey-dovey but the theme of the film seems to be totally opposite – as in there’s nothing ‘horrific’ about the name. How and why did you choose the title?
Instead of having an A for Apple kind of title for a horror film like ‘Raat’, ‘Bhoot’, etc., I thought of an extreme, opposite and contrasting title like ‘Ice Cream’; I felt it will give it a very fresh tone which will invariably creep into all the other facets of the film.

All through the promotions of the film, your concentration is more on the flowcam rather than the actual content of the film. Why is that? Is this really going to revolutionise filmmaking?
Whether it will revolutionise or not is not for me to say, but as a director with more than two decades of experience, I can say for sure that it has the potential to turn the film industry upside down – both in terms of its economics and approach.

Through the trailer, it seems that you’ve concentrated on Tejaswi’s physical attributes quite a bit. What is the fascination with a woman’s body that you seem to explore in most of your films?
A woman’s body is the most beautiful thing that God created and to see it in a very voyeuristic context heightens the thrill element in ‘Ice Cream’.

You have never stopped making films and you are unperturbed by your critics. Is it because at some point you want to deliver a hit and prove them wrong? Also, do you think it is more important that you keep making films or that you see success?
I have answered this question a million times. But since no one listens to me anyway, I will answer one more time just to satisfy you. Yes. I only love to make films and nothing else. If I only think of success I wouldn’t have done path-breaking films like ‘Nishabd’ where Amitabh Bachchan falls in love with an 18-year-old girl Jiah or song-less films like ‘Sarkar’, ‘Bhoot’ and ‘The Attacks of 26/11’, ‘Not a love story’, etc. Some films work and some don’t and I have no way of knowing beforehand.

Despite the fact that your films fail to impress critics, they rarely incur losses at the box-office. Why do you think that happens?
That’s a question which will be best answered by those who don’t like my films.

Many filmmakers who’ve worked with you seem to honour you and feel that you changed the face of Indian cinema. One such name is Hansal Mehta who said recently, “It’s time for Ramu to re-invent himself. All of us who believe in his talent will stand by him. He has to be get back into form.” He also added, “He’s just being stubborn. All he needs to do is listen to people who care for his cinema, correct his mistakes and he’ll be back in form.” Would you agree with him? Do you really think you need to re-invent yourself?
I really like Hansal and I also loved his latest film ‘Citylights’ and I don’t mean him in particular, but in general I would advise people to first concentrate their time and energies on what they are doing themselves instead of wasting it on others. Any change if needed will only come by itself and not because of advices and wishes.

Anurag Kashyap, another director who worked with you, said that you are history as in – “Ram Gopal Varma was… not is” – What would your comment on this be?
Well, I love Anurag and he is very talented. As for his comment on me, I wouldn’t like to comment on it. It’s a free country and anyone can express what he feels. He expressed his and I expressed mine in the beginning of this answer.

There is always talk that most of the things you do are for the sake of publicity – cheap publicity as has been said recently – would you agree?
Even this I have answered many times. I state what I feel about films and various issues happening in the world.

You seem to have an amusing take on everything going on around the world and do write about it on Twitter. Aren’t you scared or worried it brings you enemies?
You won’t find a single tweet of mine where I hurt someone. So making enemies on that account didn’t happen till today.

An aspect of RGV that the public hasn’t known about yet?
It’s the fact that I am worse than what they think and better than what they don’t think.