Varma, a maverick fascinated by remakes

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) He came as a breath of fresh air in the staid and formula-ridden Hindi film industry some 10 years ago and quickly became known as 'Maverick Ramu' for his quaint ways. But going by the line-up of upcoming films, filmmaker Ramgopal Varma seems to be much mellower and in mood for remakes only.

After much of Bollywood has unofficially declared him bankrupt, Varma is hell bent on churning out remakes of old classics, starting with "Shiva" that releases Friday.

Starring newcomers Mohit Ahlawat and Nisha Kothari, "Shiva" is a remake of Varma's first hit by the same name 17 years ago. Yesteryears Tamil film "Shiva" had paved the way to superstardom for Nagarjuna, with some help from the now famous cycle chain scene.

Having lost a lot of money recently on successive flops, Varma is banking on bringing back the intense hero, who ruled the 70s and 80s before being sent into oblivion by lover boys.

The new "Shiva" is set in a police-training academy instead of a campus. Another high point of the film is that its music is by the legendary Illayaraja who rarely works in Bollywood productions.

Varma had earlier financed a remake of "Shiva" that was titled "James". But he was unsatisfied with "James" and decided to get down to doing it himself.

"The new film will resonate with the situation today... The conflict between idealism taught on the campus and the practical difficulty faced by a young cop in a big city. The concept is nothing new. But people love clichés - everyone likes to identify with a hero who rises to the occasion and fights for a girl who is teased on the roads," Varma was quoted as saying in a news report.

Even as he is struggling to get his finances in place after production company K Sera Sera recently severed its contract with him and moved out of his Factory office, Varma has started work on "Nishabd".

The film stars Amitabh Bachchan as an older man who is drawn to a teenager played by newcomer Jiah Khan. The film is said to be a take on Hollywood film "Lolita" minus the overtly sexual connotations.

Varma, who burst into Bollywood with 1995 mega hit "Rangeela", has largely steered clear of emotional love stories. But he maintains that he is not getting mellower and "Nishabd" will be a one-off serious film to emerge from deep within the recesses of his mind and does not want to be taken seriously or given awards.

Besides, Varma is ruffling many feathers as he intends to remake Bollywood's biggest-ever hit - "Sholay". Many in the industry are irked by his decision as they feel that the Ramesh Sippy film was perfect and has no scope for improvement.

He is also working on making a sequel to "Sarkar" which was one of the few commercially and critically appreciated films to come out of his now defunct Factory.

A series of box-office bummers, notwithstanding, the credit for setting the pace for many smaller films goes to Varma. He is still sitting pretty on a reported Rs.1 billion deal with Entertainment One.

The filmmaker, who based his company on the Hollywood studio system, attributes the trend to the growth of multiplexes and the multiple screens in them. No two ways about it, along with Yash Raj Films, RGV Films leads the pack in churning out maximum number of movies with new filmmakers.

Varma is not the least bothered by box-office flops.

"I don't look at the finances of an individual film, I look at the annual turnover. And we are not doing badly. Sometimes, even if people think a film hasn't done well, you do recover the money," he said in an interview, adding that his company would make around five films next year.

Clearly, Varma knows how to balance his books, but the maverick in him is being missed.

Click the Movie button below for more info:
Shiva