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1/30/2009 My reactions to reactions1. Start working more on a form rather than a story… don’t over dramatize a situation with technique… cut down on background scene… be more simplistic and realistic.
Ans: Ok Sir… Ok Sir… Ok Sir… Ok Sir… Anything else Sir? 2. When did manipulating audiences/devotees come into the picture?
Ans: Hello can you know a joke when you see it? 3. Have you ever proposed to a girl?
Ans: About 142 times, and I was rejected 163 times. The other 21 rejected me even before I could propose. 4. When Ayn Rand disagrees with Nietzsche how can both be your favourites?
Ans: I pick up what suits me from everything and everyone in the world. I don’t cater to a single philosopher. I just make a massala of all of them to spice up my life. 5. Do you get very involved with your background scores or do you leave it to the music directors?
Ans: No. I am very much in the foreground in the background music aspect and I pretty much relegate the music directors to the background. 6. It hurts me that you yourself make fun of Aag.
Ans: Ohhhhh so chweeeet of you! Can I treat you for dinner or in case you are a girl can I propose to you please? 7. I think the percentage of importance given to the audience from a filmmaker depends upon money, star status or a lack of intelligence.
Ans: It also could be because of your own lack of intelligence in understanding the other reasons. 8. No job. Was just surfing the net and halted here for a while.
Ans: Oh Ok! But don’t expect me to offer you coffee. 9. I never see emotions in your face.
Ans: I show my emotions only to people who matter to me. 10. Do you think you achieved your goal?
Ans: Thousands of times. In fact ten times today itself. I always have a very short time and easily attainable goals. One of my goals today was to do 50 pushups. 11. Ignorance is bliss, right?
Ans: Only for the ignorants. 12. What are sins?
Ans: What your religion, teachers, parents, leaders etc tell you not to do, and most of the time I don’t care about them, and when I don’t have a choice I commit sins behind their backs. So either in front or back I am always happy. 13. Vedanta says one should live life without fear and also should live without want.
Ans: And I say fuck Vedanta and listen to what your own heart and mind and some parts of your body tell you. 14. How do you handle love?
Ans: With my hands. 1/28/2009 My reactions to reactions1. What is the basic purpose of you operating this blog?
Ans: I love sounding off. 2. By writing on God, you have shown yourself to be nothing but an empty soul.
Ans: Ok Mr.Full Soul, next time you go to a temple register a complaint on me. Also try and visit me in hell on your way to heaven. 3. Aren’t you thankful to the audiences when they make your moves successful?
Ans: On the contrary they should thank me if they like my movies the same way they would want to kick me if they didn’t. 4. What will be your reaction when you put in lot of hard work and it doesn’t give result?
Ans: I never work, let alone work hard. I enjoy everything every moment. Work is something I define as having to do whereas wanting to do it is to enjoy. The result of your work is never in your control and whatever is not in my control I don’t waste my time, thoughts and energy on it. 5. If you are an atheist how come your powerful protagonist Subhas Nagre in Sarkar worships God?
Ans: That’s because the majority out there are devotees and they would like to see their hero believe in God. So me an atheist is using God and manipulating devotees to make money. Now tell me who is more powerful, smarty? 6. Which is your favourite place in the world?
Ans: My mind. 7. From what kind of books did you learn?
Ans: I have learnt extensively from the books of Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn rand, Schopenhauer, James Hadley Chase, Fredrick Forsyth, Mad magazine, Jackie Collins and Phantom comics. 8. Is Company styled by intent or content? Ans: By state of mind. 9. I read somewhere that you only sleep for 3 hours.
Ans: It’s actually 4. 10. Why do you think 99% of men tolerate marriage?
Ans: Because only 1 % are wise. 11. Without sarcasm I still listen to the title track of Aag.
Ans: Without sarcasm I listen to it too. It’s just that I double check that nobody is around. 12. If I decide to adapt your views on success the first thing I need to do is to get divorced.
Ans: Hello! How did you think I got success? 13. If you are sent to a deserted island for the rest of your life which 5 films will you take along with you? Ans: The Godfather and four porn films. 1/21/2009 My reactions on reactions1. What does religion mean to you?
Ans: A well laid trap by the spoilsports, constructors and destructors over the ages to make you feel guilty and fearful all the time and in the process to make you loose out on all the fun in life. 2. If success is primarily an endorsement of a large number of people then are you suggesting that it is not in an individual’s control?
Ans: It depends on an individuals take on what success means to him. The question is whether you are buying a luxury car for yourself or is to bask in the awe and envy of others looking at it. For me personally success is about getting up in the morning and the whole day do the exactly what I want to till I sleep. Under this definition I have been always successful all my life. While making a film I don’t live in worry and fear of whether a rickshaw guy in Gorakhpur or an IIT guy in Kharagpur will like it or not. I relish every moment of the making and by the time it releases am onto my next film.
That’s how I cracked the success code. Also I believe that each day we are born in the morning and die in the night when we sleep. So “forget yesterday, relish today and fantasize tomorrow” is the motto of my life.
3. If God is beyond man’s power to understand or control why think of God?
Ans: By definition both God and the Devil are beyond any ones control. They are just forces which can stop me from having what I want. I also believe that one man’s God could be another man’s devil. From a girl not giving in to me to not finding my favourite brand of vodka in a certain location shoot are the principal things in my life which both God and Devil play havoc with and the rest of problems I manage myself.
4. If you tell a lie and tell it frequently and loudly it will become a truth.
Ans: Ironically enough if you tell a truth and tell it frequently and loudly many people will start thinking it is a lie. 5. Your comment on awards?
Ans: Will soon write a piece on this. 6. If you love women so much why don’t you undergo gender change?
Ans: Hello! I am not into a kissing and caressing myself. 7. When did you cry last time?
Ans: Last night when I told a sob story to a girl and got very carried away in the process. P.S: She laughed.
8. Most people think you are not a trust worthy person. So then why do people work for you?
Ans: That is because they have no choice as most people are not trust worthy too. 9. When I ask ‘what are you gaining by believing God?’ they answer with ‘what are you loosing by believing?’
Ans: Yes if it is just believing in God you are not loosing anything. But if you practice what come along with it and get affected physically, emotionally or intellectually then there is plenty to lose. When I was shooting near Tirupati a few of my assistants asked me that they want to go to the temple. I asked them why they think God has given more to an atheist like me than to devotees like them. There was no answer. I am sure that there will be answers to this from a variety of believers but the point here is my assistants don’t know and yet they wanted to give attendance in the temple. I think that’s because deep inside they were scared God will make a note that they didn’t come.
Whenever people feel a seeming injustice has been done like somebody unscrupulous becoming more successful than a God-fearing devotee the believers jump up and for lack of an explanation and throw in the Karma theory at them.
The Karma theory says that based on what you have done in your past birth you will enjoy or suffer in this birth.
Let me put this more simply. Let’s say you as a kid have done something wrong and your father waits for 20 years and then slaps you. That would be stupid because you would have forgotten what you have done by that time.
In the Karma theory it’s not even 20 years but it’s your next birth where you can’t even know who you were and what you did in the last birth. (Talk about delayed justice and then we have the nerve to complain about the delay in our criminal courts).
Belief in God comes from a desperate hope that something or someone out there will protect you in every which way and also can give you whatever you desire.
You can be distrustful and suspicious of your own Government, the people you work for and your own friends and family but you cannot afford to be that with God, as then there can be no more hope left. So we pardon, overlook and ignore God’s injustices as we can’t afford not to do that. Only people with a tremendous courage, madness, determination, over-confidence, objective understanding and arrogance like me can afford not to believe in God.
1/16/2009 Why Ganesha?It’s always been a mystery to me that why someone makes it in life and someone does not. It is not as simple as having talent or luck. I think it’s also a lot to do with a subconscious programming not necessarily designed or intended.
Over the years I have seen umpteen examples of actors and technicians who I thought high of, who didn’t make it and who I thought were mediocre make it to the top. Not that I am an authority but at the point and time of me thinking that, everyone else around me shared the same opinion.
The most simplistic explanation for this is the S word “success”. But what does it really mean? Success is primarily an endorsement of a large number of people that so and so is very very good. But how does one know what so many people are actually thinking? A case in point is Gaddar and Lagaan. Both of them released on the same day and Gaddar is a far superior hit to Lagaan. Today years after their release I did not meet one single person who claimed Gaddar to be his favourite but you will find plenty for Lagaan. So who were the people who loved Gaddar? Did they come quietly from Mars saw the film and went back again?
Jokes apart the people who liked Gaddar most probably would be the so-called masses whose opinions would not matter to the nose-in-the-air critics and the media. So the moment they don’t endorse or keep praising the film the people who liked Gaddar also in time would slowly start being apologetic about liking Gaddar as they will be programmed to think that there is something wrong with them for liking Gaddar.
There was an aunt of mine who just accompanied someone visiting Satya Sai Baba and when she came back she put a huge portrait of his in her house and she claimed that the very fact that so many thousands believe in him is proof enough for her that he is divine. I countered her by saying that if she actually does not believe, and just because she thinks thousands others believe, she also believes, then what if each one of those thousands also were thinking the same like her. In effect this means nothing but a huge collective belief in a lie. Am not talking here about Satya Sai Baba but I am questioning the basis of their belief in him.
Also I could never understand for what reason Kartika is a lesser God than his brother Ganesha. Mythology does not say Kartika is lesser and neither did it say Ganesha is more extra-ordinary. But for some reason Heaven’s PR department propped up Ganesha and played down Kartika. So the moment they promoted Ganesha in such loud profound voices even as illogical as a story of his origin will also be looked up to by the devotees (audience) in awe (Read as in a illogical film also becoming a super-hit).
If anyone in the poor film industry were to tell a story like this the writer will be kicked out for ever. “Young Ganesha was standing guard outside when his mother Parvati is taking a bath Shiva returns and Ganesha stops him and in anger Shiva cuts off the kid’s head. (I think the world can learn a few lessons in brutality from Shiva.) And when Parvati tells him who the kid is, Shiva goes outside cuts an elephant’s head (Are the wild-life people PETA etc listening) and sticks it on his son’s head.” Apart from this and being momma’s boy I couldn’t get what else Ganesha did to get that divine status and of course we never ever bothered to ask about Kartika because we were programmed to ignore him.
For all practical purposes Kartika is better looking, seems smarter (at least he does not have any funny illogical stories around him comparable to those of Ganesha) and also there is no account in mythology of him being less powerful than Ganesha or whatever.
Then why is Ganesha a superstar and why is Kartika not?
Well as a sum up I just wanted to state that the miracle of why someone makes it and why some one does not exists not only in Bollywood but also in Divine-wood. 1/9/2009 My reactions to reactions1. Who in your opinion is the most beautiful and sexiest woman? 2. I think Naach and Aag were made seriously and Company and Satya were made with a happy-go-lucky attitude. 3. Sorry to tell you but I think your blog is boring. 4. Don’t you have anything better to do than insult your fans and readers of your blog with your inane rantings and pathetically defensive stances? 5. Your blog on your visit to Taj makes it evident that you are shaken. 6. I was hurt that you were at Taj. 7. Why do you take your audience for granted? 8. Do you trust anyone else other than you? 9. You are still God to us. 10. Are you pure enough to say that media is corrupted? 11. Is it possible to render my vision accurately in a movie? 12. How come you are not so funny in the TV interviews? 13. You are an ugly person deep inside. 14. Company would have been better if instead of Raute being killed he should have become the C.M. 15. Why are you not able to match up to your brilliant films like Satya, Company etc? Once for all, open your ears, listen to and remember “Anyone can only make a film. How it turns out will be influenced by many factors and you will find an elaboration on this in a few articles on this blog. If you have the patience and the interest read it and try not to ask inane questions like this in the future again and again. They bore me to tears. 16. Have you ever met another Ramgopal Varma meaning another guy like you? 17. “What you think will change what you do and more importantly what you do will change what you think” – Charlie Munger. 18. Can you make a movie like Titanic? 19. I loved your guts in remaking Sholay. 20. Is it books or life experiences which made you like this? 21. I think you are a genius with your films and mad man with your philosophies and humour. 22. What is your stand on women and sex? 23. Do you think writing is a superior way to express thoughts than movies? “Luca Brasi was one of the most feared men in the eastern underworld. Short, squat and massive skulled his presence sent out alarm bells of danger. His reputation for violence was awesome and his devotion to the Don was legendary. He was in himself one of the great blocks that supported the Don’s power structure. He did not fear God, he did not fear police, he did not fear society and he did not fear or love his fellow man but ushered into the Don’s presence he held himself still with respect. Luca Brasi was the only man who could make the Don feel uneasy. He was like a natural force not unlike a typhoon and not truly subject to control.” I think no director can visually match the awe Puzo’s words managed to evoke through his description of Luca Brasi. For me Coppola’s visual version of Luca pales in comparison to Puzo’s Luca. The reason for that is because Puzo’s description fires the reader’s imagination to the extent that reality cannot match up to it. On the other hand I will visually narrate a scene from another movie. “The camera is on the floor and you see the naked feet of a woman up to a little above the ankle come into the frame as she got off the bed. She starts walking and the camera tracks along with her feet as her panties lying on the floor come into the frame. Her hands enter the frame and as she slips her legs in to them and starts slowly pulling the panties up the camera travels up along with the panties up with her legs and just when we think we will see her crotch the camera stops and the panties go up out of the frame. She goes out of the frame and the camera pans to a guy on the bed who says ‘I love your butt baby’. If we analyze this scene the psychological play involved in it goes something like this. When we first see the feet our mind goes “Is she naked?” and when the panties come into the frame our mind goes “Oh fuck! She is naked” and when the camera starts going up slowly along with the panties up her thighs our mind goes “Don’t tell me that he will show” to “Oh yes, he’s going to show” and when the camera abruptly stops we will let out a expletive at the director and when she goes out of the frame and the guy says “I love your butt” we will want to kill him with jealousy. The above emotional manipulations can be possible only with a camera and would be very difficult to capture in mere writing. So I would sum it up as, there are certain writings that the visual media cannot do justice to and vice versa. Incidentally before you guys ask me which film is this panties scene from let me tell you that I just made it up to explain my point.
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