EVEN IN DEFEAT VARMA DOESN'T SHED HIS ARROGANCE: I HAVE HIT AN ALL-TIME LOW, I CAN ONLY MOVE UP NOW, HE SAYS

Ram Gopal Varma's remake of a cult classic is a box office flop, and Varma has drawn flak for Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, his ambitious remake of the 1975 film Sholay which nosedived at the box-office. The films tell the story of two reformed crooks who save a village from a bloodthirsty bandit.

"Every flaw the film is being criticised for is mine," said Varma. "I take full responsibility for my film. It is my vision that faltered from the script to the music to the songs."

The maverick director said he had hit rock bottom with the film's failure.

He also said he now believes his project was doomed to failure, as it ran into legal problems. Many critics also labelled his attempt at rehashing a blockbuster classic as stupidity.

"Everybody told me not to go ahead with it. The film then went into legal tangles. Characters needed to be changed, the title needed to be changed, and even the script to some extent.

"Now I think it was not wise for me to go ahead," he said.

Varma, known for his gangster movies and horror flicks, said he could only improve from now on. "I have hit an all-time low. I can only move up now," he said.

Varma's next film Sarkar Raj, a sequel to the hit 2005 film Sarkar about a megalomaniac politician, is scheduled to be released in December this year.

NISHA KOTHARI IS BOWLED OVER BY TOLLYWOOD FILMMAKERS' PROFESSIONALISM, ANY TAKERS?

ON HER FORAYS INTO TOLLYWOOD:
I am currently working opposite Balakrishna in Okka Mogadu. It's been a fantastic experience. I am awe struck by the colour and vibrancy of Telugu cinema. The people are very cordial and thorough professionals. I would love to work again provided the opportunity.

ON HER SEX SYMBOL IMAGE:
It's very flattering and embarrassing at the same time. I don't think I am sexy at all. I am a very conservative person at heart. But it's some thing that comes with a job and I have not done anything that's vulgar. But I do not want to be typecast and want to try out different roles and grow as an actress.

ON HER ENTRY INTO FILMS:
I had actually made my debut as Amoga in a Tamil film Jay Jay opposite Madhavan in 2003. I had left my portfolio at Ramuji's office and to my surprise I got a call for an audition and I was offered a role in Sarkar. All of a sudden I was rubbing shoulders with stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Ajay Devagan. It's been a great learning experience so far but I still have miles to go.

ON BASANTI VS GHUNGROO:
It would be unfair to compare me with a legend like Hema Malini. My character has no shades of Basanti. Ghungroo is a city girl who is in stark contrast with the village bred Basanti. She is a tomboy who smokes bidis (imitating her favourite actor- Rajnikanth), is fearless and speaks a tapori lingo. I had to work very hard on my body language and expression, as she wears a new expression in every scene. Now it's up to the audience to decide.

ON HER IDEAL MAN:
I'd rather wait for him to turn up for the element of surprise.

RAM GOPAL VARMA WANTS TO DIRECT AN EROTIC FILM, NO NOT NOW, BUT SOMEDAY

He has explored the gory mob world and dabbled in the supernatural, but for Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma nothing gets him excited like refined erotica.

By Indian standards, Varma is unconventional, even bold, and he raised conservative eyebrows last year with a film about love between a girl and a man old enough to be her grandfather.

Like most Bollywood cinema, titillation is integral to his films -- mostly explored through raunchy dance numbers by the heroines. But Varma says if there was one genre of cinema he wanted to explore honestly, it was the erotic.

"I think I can capture the subject through my camera," the filmmaker told Reuters. "I would love to direct an erotic film someday."

And, in India, more often than not that would mean courting controversy. "I honestly don't care about it," he said.

The 45-year-old filmmaker, an acknowledged Bollywood master at making gangster movies, is no stranger to controversy -- be it making a Lolita-esque film or remaking a Bollywood classic.

Varma's remake this year of the landmark 1975 film "Sholay" (Embers) -- which he calls "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" (Ram Gopal Varma's Fire) -- first had critics denouncing the attempt at tinkering with classics and then it got into trouble for trying to use the original title.

Varma says the flak actually gave him strength to finish the film -- which is due out this year and narrates the story of two reformed crooks who save a village from a blood-thirsty bandit.

"I have never taken so much care with my other movies," he said. "When I went ahead with the idea of remaking 'Sholay', I knew it was a classic and somebody else's masterpiece which I should take good care of."

Bollywood is remaking a slew of classic Hindi movies, egged on by what it says is the creative challenge of packaging old blockbusters for modern audiences. But many criticize the trend, saying it reflects creative bankruptcy.

Varma disagrees. "It's a new work at the end of the day," he said. "I think there's nothing wrong with someone getting inspired from a masterpiece and then going ahead and trying to recreate the film's spirit in a new time and space."

The style and look of the remakes are also obviously new.

For instance, Varma in his remake of "Sholay" stunned Bollywood by casting Amitabh Bachchan in the iconoclastic role of Gabbar Singh, the merciless villain, while in the original version he was one of the two heroes.

Such is his passion for cinema that Varma, who made his directorial debut in 1989 and has directed 27 films, says he would be dead if he wasn't making films.

"I think I would have been a big failure," he said. "I guess I would have been too bored with life and may have possibly died too. Seriously, I cannot imagine my life without films."

IS RAM GOPAL VARMA RENAMING THE TITLE OF HIS FILM SHOLAY TO RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG?

Has Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma decided to release the remake of yesteryear's blockbuster Sholay by changing the much publicised title Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay?
A high drama was witnessed on the issue on Wednesday in the Delhi High Court as Sascha Sippy, who claims to be the owner of the film Sholay cited a news report that Varma has decided to release the movie on July 13 by not only changing the title, but also changing the names of popular characters like "Gabbar Singh" and "Basanti".
The title has been changed from Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay to Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag and the popular characters Gabbar Singh and Basanti have been renamed as "Babban Singh" and "Ghungroo", Sippy's counsel Pravin Anand contended, referring to a report on a website. He said Varma's interview in this regard was aired on Monday on a national channel.
Justice Gita Mittal before whom a petition of infringement of trade mark and copyright on Sholay was pending against Varma, said if the change of title and name of character was acceptable to Sippy, it would end the issue of release of the film in question.
However, senior advocate Rajiv Nayar and Amit Naik, counsel for Varma, expressed ignorance of the interview and said they did not have any idea of any such interview on any channel.
In view of the conflicting statements by the contesting parties, the court directed them to take instructions from their clients and inform it about the facts.
Amit Naik, after brief adjournment, informed the court that his client (Varma) had not given any such interview. He said the film cannot be released as it would require a lot of promotional activities.
Following which Sippy's counsel decided not to raise the issue and proceeded ahead with the routine arguments to establish that Varma's film could not be released by using the title Sholay.
The court, in an interim order in October last, had stayed the release of Varma's much hyped remake of the 1970s' blockbuster Sholay.
The court was hearing a suit filed by Sippy Films Pvt Ltd and Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, owned by Sascha Sippy and Shan Uttam Singh, to permanently restrain Varma from releasing the film Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay maintaining the use of the name Sholay by any other entity amounts to infringement of trade mark and copyright.
The roadblocks for the release of the film in which superstar Amitabh Bachchan has assumed the role of "Gabbar Singh" came on a lawsuit filed by the grandson of G P Sippy, who had produced Sholay.
Sippy had contended that they also have copyright on the use of character "Gabbar Singh" which was played by late Amjad Khan in Sholay.
Sascha Sippy, director of the Sippy Films, claimed that the late G P Sippy's son Ajit Sippy who reportedly sold the copyrights to Varma, had no such rights himself to transfer the same to others.
The suit was filed after it was reported that Verma had began shooting the film titled -- Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay.
The suit said the use of names -- Sholay and Gabbar Singh -- by Varma also amounts to infringement of moral right as there was threat to destruction of original work.
He submitted that the script and screenplay of Sholay are the original literary works, protected under Sections 14 and 51 of the Copyright Act of 1957.


LINDSAY LOHAN PROMISES SHE'LL LEAD A QUIETER LIFE