By Subhash K Jha
Neither his cast nor his producers Viacom 18 were in a position to understand what Ram Gopal Varma tried to reach through his strange positioning of camera and unconventional lighting in Department.
Explains Ramu, “For too long our cinema was stuck in a specific visual language. Department changes the visual imagery completely. It's the costliest film I’ve made.
The more or less technology I’ve used made it possible for me to re- invent the cinematic language. I’ve used 5-6 cameras, to not cut costs as people believe, but to shoot my characters in angles and positions not seen before in films.
In Department I WOULD LIKE to modify all the image of the visual medium and the way audiences take a look at the characters. The audience would feel the improved impact of what the characters are attempting to specific. What I’ve tried to reach within the visual sort of Department is beyond anything attempted in our cinema. ”
Ramu feels novel technique can never fail. “Story can fail. Genuinely innovative technique can never fail. Once they made The Blairwitch Project with hand-held cameras the Hollywood studios felt the audiences could be cast off.
When Steven Soderberg shot Traffic with hand-held cameras without using lights the producers felt audiences would get put off…Technical innovation can never get it wrong. That’s what I THINK. ”
Apparently Ramu had a difficult time convincing his producers Viacom 18 and his leading man Sanjay Dutt about his technique.
Ramu protests, “Not in any respect. On the end of the day everyone I work with knows my work experience and my passion for innovative technique. My story-content will have failed previously. But not my technique.
In fact once I told Mr Bachchan about my new technology I warned him it'd be unlike anything he has done. But he caught on so fast that during no time we were at the same page. I USED TO BE amazed on the speed with which all my actors understood what I USED TO BE doing. ”
He refutes all reports of differences with Sanjay Dutt.
“All the variations were just discussions, nothing in any respect. Actually fairly often I asked him to assist me with certain things.
For example after I needed a Punjabi song I sought his help on account of my limited knowledge at the subject. Sanjay came up with the track Kammo because he's heavily into music. He’s an actor of long experience. I THINK the similar collaborative spirit with Mr Bachchan and Nana Patekar.
However let me clarify before you ask that including Thodisi jo pee hai from Namal Halaal in Department was my idea. But Mr Bachchan isn't a part of Thodi si jo pee hai. It’s filmed on Dutt and Ran Daggubati.
So I don’t know where reports of Mr Bachchan re-doing his own Namak Halaal song came from. I don’t attempt anything for nostalgia’s sake. ”
Incidentally Department will be the Big B’s only release within the next 12 months.
“So? ” retorts Ramu. “Why should that thought give me a kick? On the end of the day, no person goes to return to look at the film just because he won’t be seen for some time. Once we planned Department we didn’t plan the long gap between this and the following film. ”
We then get all the way down to talking about Ramu’s special interest in item girl Nathalia Kaur.
He counters, “What do you mean special interest? I USED TO BE shooting an item song together with her and that i was serious about it.
The joke about me being shorter than her and hence getting a greater view of her came from the truth that Nathalia and i've been joking about her height. It doesn’t mean I'M too short. It just means she’s very tall.
I think she has an overly bright future. And I’ve planned another project where she is going to co-star with Rana Daggubati. ”
Rana in line with Ramu would be the surprise packet in Department.
“He will pop out really effective. And he speaks fluent Hindi because he’s from Hyderabad. Most Hyderabadis barring me speak Hindi. So he has spoken his own lines. I BELIEVE he is star material. Among Mr Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Rana, my film got precisely the vision it needed. ”
The characters in Department are in keeping with real-life cops. “Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati are an amalgamation of several characters. I DO KNOW no less than 50 cops very closely. I took bits of many personalities to create Dutt’s and Rana’s characters. ”
In the meanwhile Ramu shot one sequence for his 26/11 film, then went to Department and now he intends to go back to the 26/11 film from June 1.
Says the restless director, “I shot the introduction sequence. I plan to shoot all of the sequence of events that happened on 26/11 chronologically to capture exactly what happened that night. ”
