Not IPL, I am interested in cheerleaders

There are very few people in Bollywood who will not give you ‘No Comments’ as an answer when you ask them awkward questions, but Ram Gopal Varma or RGV is different.

He does not hold himself back when he speaks, he takes potshots at himself and speaks his mind. His new flick starring Abhiash and Big B is ready to release and even though TOI grilled the enigmatic director about things ranging from flop films he has made to rumours of the uncanny resemblance of his forthcoming flick to a particular case in Mumbai, the answers flowed, unedited.

Indeed, there are lot of speculations about the plot of his new movie. Is he bringing in the controversial Enron issue in the film? “If you see Sarkar, it is the story of a charismatic leader of a certain state without an official position, so he would be instrumental in wanting to stop something or make something happen. It deals with certain situations, some company wanting to set up something and facing some problem. I don’t know the details of the Enron controversy, Aishwarya is playing a CEO of that company in the movie and thus the media jumped to the conclusion that it is about Enron. Actually, a project being set up in Maharashtra is the core issue of the film.”

But this sounds surprising when Ramu says he's not sure about the Enron case, for any film buff would know that Ramu does a lot of research for his films and thus the story-telling is almost real. “It is untrue, I never do research for my films, films are about character conflicts, and my understanding of anything is at a very superficial level. This is including the so-called underworld films I make, if you look at them, there are not many technical details of how the underworld operates, it is more about the character conflicts.”

Of late, he and Big B together have had to face some strong criticism. So are they geared up to give a strong reply back together? RGV smiles, “Day in and day out things were coming to our ears, but at the end of the day one can only do what one is capable of. If giving a good film or a great film was in our hands then we would come up with a great film every time. We can only have intentions and how it turns out to be, depends on many other factors beyond our control.”

Ask him, why he hasn’t got involved in IPL, while the entire industry seems to have taken keen interest in it, and pat comes the reply, “I have no interest in cricket, but the only thing in IPL that interests me are the cheerleaders.”

Talking of IPL, how could one forget his good friend SRK? Would they ever team up for a movie? “I don't make the kind of cinema that would do justice to his stardom and the expectations that people have from him. He is a great star, but the kind of realistic films I make doesn't always have scope for someone of his stature.”

But doesn't Aishwarya have the same kind of stardom? What made him choose the Bachchan bahu then? "Frankly when I first met Aishwarya, I was stunned. She is obviously very elegant and has a nice personality, and the stardom that she has acquired over the years is also reflected in her attitude. But I did not think of her consciously as an actor. But that doesn't mean that I thought she couldn't act it's just that her beauty is so consuming and on-the-face that you never get to concentrate on anything beyond her looks. But I was stunned the way she so easily blended into the raw rustic realism of film like this.”