Big B turns gangster for RGV

Ram Gopal Varma has once again teamed up with Amitabh Bachchan for 'Department' and says the film will see the star playing a gangster-turned-politician. He also clarified that his next directorial venture is neither a sequel to 'Company' nor a prequel to 'Ab Tak Chhappan.

"All I can tell you at the moment is that Mr. Bachchan plays a gangster-turned-politician in 'Department'. Whom he's modelled on is open to conjecture and I am certainly not telling," said Varma whose last film with Big B was 'Rann'.

"There are too many misconceptions floating around about the project. Mr. Bachchan is not playing a cop in 'Department'. It is not a sequel to 'Company' nor a prequel to 'Ab Tak Chhappan'," he added.

The film, said to be Ramu's most expensive project, is being feverishly scripted. Details are being kept under wraps since it involves some volatile characters.

In the film, Varma wants Big B's character to be a kind of grassroot-level superhero.

"I've always seen Mr. Bachchan as a hero of the masses. I want him to be cast as larger-than-life hero in 'Department'," he said.

Interestingly, Varma who has cast Amitabh and Abhishek in father-son roles in 'Sarkar' and 'Sarkar Raj', has not cast them in the same roles in 'Department'.

"No, Mr. Bachchan and Abhishek are not father and son in 'Department'. Abhishek and Sanjay Dutt are cops. They share a pupil-mentor relationship."

In real-life too Abhishek looks up to Dutt. "That's why I cast them as mentor and pupil," said Varma.

When asked about playing a gangster-turned-politician in 'Department', Big B said: "Oh, is that what Ramu has cast me as in 'Department'? I've not yet discussed the antecedents of my role with him."

Karan Johar is in fighting mode

Just when Karan Johar has been taking pride in having produced an official Hollywood remake with "We Are Family", his critic, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has hit out with negative comments on the quality of the film.

"The good thing about official remakes is that we can officially prove to the world how bad as makers we are," Varma posted on his Twitter page.

In return, Karan posted: "It's sad when extreme failure and death of talent drives filmakers into a zone of negativity...sad! But that is the unfortunate truth!"

This isn't the first time both the filmmakers are caught in a war of words. They just love to hate each other.

Spotted: Vivek Oberoi, Celina Jaitley, Emraan Hashmi

Ram Gopal Varma and Vivek Oberoi at the wrap-up party of their film Rakta Charitra held over the weekend.

Celina Jaitly released the music of Madholal Keep Walking which has bagged several awards on the festival circuit.

Emraan Hashmi visited a theatre in Bandra to judge the audience's reaction to his film Once Upon A Time in Mumbai.

A who's who list of Bollywood stars following Hollywood biggies on popular micro-blogging platform Twitter

Here's a who's who list of B-Towners following Hollywood biggies on Twitter. Find out what it says to be in the company they keep

What does it say about you when you decide to follow someone on Twitter? And that too, when the object of your attention is saat samundar paar? We decided to psychoanalyse our B-Town Twitterers based on their shared histories and our Wikipedia research. We bring you the results of our study. Read on...

Follower: Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk)

Following: Shakira (@shakira)

What it says about him: Shah Rukh has no starry airs. He is a star but when he meets other performers, he gets as excited as any other besotted fan. He has even tweeted pictures of Shakira posing with his family in South Africa.

Follower: Lara Dutta (@duttalara)

Following: Hugh Jackman (@realhughjackman)

What it says about him: That she likes her men strong, sexy and romantic. And loyal -- Hugh is one of the few H-Town actors who has been with the same woman for 15 years.

Follower: Bipasha Basu (@bipsluvurself)

Following: Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk)

What it says about her: That she likes guys with a sense of humour and a hot bod. Demi Moore's husband is known for his funny shows and his toned frame.

Follower: Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay)

Following: Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe)

What it says about him: That he sees similarities in their lives. They have dealt with their trouble with the law, Gladiator-like. Also, their Beautiful Minds have them performing acts worthy of a Robin Hood.

Follower: Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor)

Following: Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake)

What it says about him: He doesn't shy away from admiring dancing men -- and ones who can successfully hide details of their personal life. Both men shut out the media after their break-ups. Notice the similarities?

Follower: Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra)

Following: Eminem (@Eminem), Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey)

What it says about her: Priyanka loves strong people who can think of failures as stepping stones to success. Mariah resurrected her career after a nervous breakdown and Eminem came back after his drug addiction. PC also hears both sides of an argument before judging someone. Why else will she follow both singers who have been at odds since 2003?

Follower: Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor)

Following: Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio)

What it says about her: Even though she has been offered a Ben Stiller film, she follows Leo, not the funnyman. That could possibly mean only one thing: she wants to be on DiCaprio's radar and is holding out till she's offered Inception 2. Mr Nolan, are you listening?

Follower: Karan Johar (@kjohar25)

Following: Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton)

What it says about him: That KJo is an ardent admirer of the heiress-turned-model-turned actress. It's no secret he only wants to be surrounded by good-looking and rich folks, and he's even ready to follow them, if need be. Or maybe he wants to do a show inspired by her (not-so) Simple Life.

Follower: Imran Khan (@1mrankhan)

Following: Bob Saget (@bobsaget)

What it says about him: That Imran is a fan of the sweet family show that ran on for years. Maybe he sees the similarities between his close-knit family and that on the show. However, there is that little detail of Bob playing a single dad Danny Tanner in the hugely popular family show, while our boy is ready to get hitched. See, we told you he is a family guy.

Follower: Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin)

Following: Woody Allen (@WoodyAllen)

What it says about him: That even though he makes scary films, he loves a man with a sense of humour. Also let's not forget how much both men love nubile young beauties. Professionally, maybe after paying tribute to intense, brooding filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, RGV now wants to follow Woody.

RGV's love-hate story

Here's the latest in the Karan Johar-Ram Gopal Varma saga

It seems filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma will never stop taking digs (well, sort of) at Karan Johar - he has now started on Karan's latest production venture 'I Hate Luv Storys'.

"I hate 'I Hate Luv Storys' for being a big hit and I love 'I Hate Luv Storys' because its K Jo's (Karan Johar's) film, who I love to hate and hate to love and that's our love-hate story," Varma posted on his Twitter page.

Karan seems to have taken the message lightly, as he tweeted back: "Superb tweet Ramu!!! You couldn't have worded our 'story' better!!"

Karan gets a compliment from Ramu

Does this mean the two directors have finally stopped fighting?

Filmmakers Ram Gopal Verma and Karan Johar are mostly at loggerheads, but for a change RGV has complimented Johar for the title of his upcoming film ‘I Hate Luv Storys’.

"Hey Karan 'I Hate Luv Storys' is the best ever title from you. I am really jealous that I couldn't think of it," Varma posted on Johar's Twitter page.

Johar replied : "Thanks Ramu!!!"

The two directors have distinctly different styles of filmmaking. While Johar's forte is romantic dramas, Verma is known for his horrors and thrillers and they never fall short of taking a dig at each other often.

Just yesterday Karan posted on his Twitter page, “Kudos to Saina Nehwal!! Not that I follow badminton but just watching the pride on her parents face was beyond victory! You go girl!!!”

To this, Ramu wrote, “Well karan its all about parents,” maybe taking a dig at the tagline for KJo’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ – ‘It’s all about loving your parents’.

But Karan only replied, “Yes Ramu and family values....”

Ramu jokes about ‘Raavan’

Calls it ‘Mani Ki Aag’; plus what the director had to say about SRK’s ‘Ra.One’

Ram Gopal Varma might have been behind the disastrous remake of ‘Sholay’ (We’re all trying to forget ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’). But RGV does have a sense of humour about it all.

He posted on his Twitter page soon after the release of Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’, “I hv 2 bear with my flops and then also wth everyones flops becos whenevr whoevers flop cmes they invariably compare it wth Aag. For Tashan they said its Aditya ki Aag. For Chandni Chowk they said Akshay Ki Aag. For Kites they said Hrithik Ki Aag and now its Mani Ki Aag.”

He added later, “Well am happy that if not for anything else I at least set a bench mark for flops :)”

Of course, Ramu wasn’t done with the digs. He posted today (June 21), “I want to remake Raavan and I want to request Mani to remake Aag.”

Then, he referenced Karan Johar with whom he’d had a war of words earlier, by bringing up ‘My Name Is Khan’ and ‘Kurbaan’. Ramu wrote, “I got a better idea.. I will make My Name is Raavan and Mani should make Raavan ki Kurbaan."

And then it was Shah Rukh’s turn to face Ramu's friendly fire. He posted, “Let's all hope and pray that Ra.1 does not become SRK ki AAG.”

A sort of dig at SRK? Could Karan Johar take this lying down? Not at all! So Kjo responded to that on his Twitter page with, “You have an amazing sense of humour ramu!! Never shows up in your films though....”

Ouch! Is the war of words still on between the two directors? Well, Ramu laughed off KJo’s comment, saying, “Ha ha Karan becos of the constant bashing I receive I developed my sense of humour as a defense mechanism. And talking of my films not having humour check out ths great comedy I made cald Rgv ki Aag.”

Well said, Ramu, and we’re glad to see your sense of humour stay fiery!

Phoonk 2 - First Look

In Pics: Amitabh Bachchan Celebrates 67th Birthday in Mumbai

B.O. update: 'Agyaat' best at single screens, 'Teree Sang' has an edge

Both AGYAAT and TEREE SANG competed for audience attention this Friday. While AGYAAT was strong at single screens -- 60% to 70% -- the numbers at plexes weren't too encouraging [20% +]. On the other hand, TEREE SANG sprung a pleasant surprise by fetching a better start at plexes. The reports are positive and the film is expected to grow with a strong word of mouth. Saturday and Sunday, of course, hold the key.

The youth has taken to TEREE SANG and have appreciated the subject as also the lead pair of the film. However, the ending of AGYAAT has come in for sharp criticism from several places. The silver lining is, both AGYAAT and TEREE SANG are low-cost fares and wouldn't find it tough to recover their investments.

Agyaat - Movie Review

Ramgopal Varma thinks differently. This time too the maverick film-maker defies the stereotype and takes to the dense forests of Sri Lanka to meet an 'unknown' force.

But let's clear the misconception at the very start. AGYAAT is no supernatural thriller [like PHOONK] or a horror fest [like BHOOT]. This one's more of an adventure thriller that doesn't scare you at all, but makes you a participant in a pulse-pounding journey.

For any movie to succeed, it ought to keep the viewer engrossed first and foremost. AGYAAT succeeds in doing that, especially towards the second hour. You haven't witnessed a journey like the one in AGYAAT on the Hindi screen before. In the West, the most memorable film I can think of is THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

AGYAAT works for several factors. The dense jungle blows your mind away, the sound design and the background score are easily at par with international films, the camera movement is spectacular and of course, RGV's execution of the material is just right for a film of this genre.

But, at the same time, the culmination to the film is debatable. Of course, one would be doing gross injustice to the film by revealing the end, but it's bound to have its share of advocates and adversaries. It might bring a smile on your face or a smirk, but the fact remains that the reactions would be in extremes.

Final word? Take a trip!

A film unit goes for a shoot deep into a forest. They settle at a place with bare minimal facilities run by a strange and quirky man called Setu [Joy Fernandes]. The hero of the film, Sharman [Gautam Rode], is a completely self-obsessed man with no other concern except for his muscles and the leading lady, Aasha [Priyanka Kothari].

The team consists of the director [Howard Rosemeyer], producer [Ishrat Ali], the superstar's spot boy [Ishteyak], cinematographer [Kali Prasad Mukherjee], action director [Ravi Kale], second assistant [Rasika Duggal] and an assistant director [Nitin Reddy].

It all begins when the camera conks off... They have two days waiting for the replacement to arrive and with no form of entertainment or communication, when Setu suggests a camping trip into the forest, they jump at the opportunity. As they settle near a pond for the night, Setu hears a strange sound. He goes to investigate and never returns. After a desperate search, they discover his dead body.

Panic sets in among the unit members and they jump into the vehicle, but they being unfamiliar with the terrain results in an accident. Completely lost and trapped in the jungle as Setu, the only guy who knows the way out, is dead, they don't know which way to move to get out of the forest.

The first 25 minutes of AGYAAT are very unlike an RGV film. In a majority of his films, RGV comes to the point at the very start, but AGYAAT begins with a dream song [so unlike RGV] and the next 20 minutes are devoted to introducing the characters.

The film actually takes off when the unit decides to penetrate into the jungles and Setu is murdered. From that point onwards, the by-now-famous RGV stamp is visible in several sequences. The two deaths before the interval [Joy Fernandes and Ishrat Ali] are brilliantly executed, especially Ishrat's murder at the interval point.

AGYAAT becomes an adventure ride in the post-interval portions. Though it rests on a thin story, it's the adventure element that drives the film to its destination. There are deaths galore, but it's not blood or gore that puts you off. The murders are depicted very, very differently, leaving a lot to your imagination.

RGV experiments again, this time attempting an all-new genre. It must've been extremely difficult to shoot in the forests, that's the first thought that crosses your mind. As mentioned at the very outset, the sound design [Dwarak Warrier], background score [Amar Mohile] and cinematography [Surjodeep Ghosh] are top notch. Thee three names contribute enormously to RGV's vision.

Now to the actors! Nitin Reddy [a star in Telugu films] makes a first-rate debut in Hindi films. He dances exceptionally well [the film begins with a dance] and his confident performance make him an actor to watch out for. Priyanka Kothari shows vast improvement over her previous works. She's good this time. Gautam Rode enacts the hot-headed superstar with conviction.

Every actor in the film makes an impression, but Ishteyak, Kali Prasad Mukherjee and Rasika Duggal stand out.

On the whole, AGYAAT has an absorbing second half, but the culmination to the film would meet with diverse reactions. At the box-office, the distributors have recovered a substantial chunk of their investment from its dubbed Telugu rights and the remainder should be recovered given its aggressive promotional campaign and extensive release [700 + screens in Hindi belt]. The low-cost film, therefore, should prove to be a profitable venture on the strength of its economics!

Ram Gopal Varma and In Pics: Priyanka Kothari at the pre-release bash of Agyaat

Ramu's a dead man

Well it surely looks like it. Apart from the moustache, the dead man hanging from the cities billboards bears a striking resemblance to Ram Gopal Varma. No we are not kidding, but that's the length Ramu will go to to seek attention.

The director has hung a bloody dead man dummy around the cities billboards to promote his upcoming horror flick Agyaat. But many of the townsfolk actually thought the sick joke was a gruesome reality. Put up on Sunday morning, a crowd assembled near the Goregaon flyover in Mumbai and called the cops to have the dummy removed from the hoarding. The cops received many such similar calls later on.

Even the City Police were bewildered but thought it was a great marketing strategy and for now they have all the dummies in their custody. StarBoxOffice feels while Ramu sure knows how to spook the audience out of the cinemas, we can't say the same while in the cinema eh?

But what is to ponder is how far can you go to publicise a film. The last time Ramu wanted to dare people to watch Phoonkh all alone. Not that many went in, but this sort of joke- real life looking dummies hung up at traffic lights and important venues if not for scaring, will lead to trauma. Many people will perhaps not appreciate such a crude joke.

It's alright at a gallery, as an artist's impression, where you pay to pontificate about all things grostesque, but in a public space this kind of publicity campaign for a film will not go down well with the audience.

'Agyaat' is a thriller, not a horror film

Director Ram Gopal Varma makes the point clear

Ram Gopal Varma says he has cut out a smoking scene from a song in his upcoming "Agyaat" for television after the censor board objected to it. The filmmaker also stressed the movie is a thriller and not a horror flick as people are perceiving it to be from the promos.

"We have altered the song because the censor board thinks it is not viable for audiences of TV, which is a mass medium, though the big screen version might carry it in accordance with the certification of the film. The DVD version will however carry the scene without any doubt," Varma told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had asked the director to re-edit the music track "Jai Shri Shambhu" as it encourages substance abuse. The track shows leading lady Priyanka Kothari puffing a 'chillum' (pipe) while she sings "Dum Maro, yeh hai Sahara".

This is not the first time Varma has been associated with controversies.

He first sparked one when he visited the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, one of the sites of the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, with then Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his actor son Riteish. Protesters thought he was collecting material for a film on the tragedy - something the director has denied.

He was again in the news when the censor board refused to clear another of his forthcoming films "Rann" unless he removed a song "Jana gana mana rann" - a take-off on the national anthem, which he refused to remove.

Asked if the controversies were coincidental or a publicity gimmick, Varma said: "I take a subject matter which is very hard hitting and obviously many people have problems with that and raise their voice against it.

"I just do my job and shoot whatever I think is right for the film and they do theirs in pointing out whatever they think is not right for the masses."

Coming back to "Agyaat", Varma said its promos might be spooky, but it does not belong to the horror genre.

"People are perceiving that 'Agyaat' is a horror film. I would like to make a point here that it's not a scary film. It's an adventure thriller," he clarified.

Produced by Varma and Ronnie Screwvala, "Agyaat" is about a film unit on a shoot in a dense forest and then crew members start getting killed one by one under mysterious circumstances by an invisible creature.

"Hollywood has made thousands of such films about people stuck somewhere and getting killed under unknown reasons. I thought what if this time people don't see what is killing them...the idea was to compel them to use their own imagination as a weapon, which is more lethal," the filmmaker said.

Releasing on August 7, "Agyaat" has an ensemble cast and includes Telugu actor Nitin Reddy.

The promos of the film suggest stark resemblances to Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer sci-fi action horror "Predator", which showed a special task force being hunted down by an extra-terrestrial life form in the jungles of Central America.

Asked if inspration for "Agyaat" came from the 1987 movie, Varma said: "It's not only from 'Predator' but also from other such films like 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Anaconda', 'Alien' and 'The Thing'. In fact what sets 'Agyaat' apart is that you don't see what's killing you, which makes it even more adventurous."

Shot mostly in the Sigiriya jungles of Sri Lanka and the Athirapally forests in Kerala, the film's location was crucial for Varma, considering the invisibility of the creature.

"As the basic point was not to show the creature at all, the location had to make up for most of it. And among all the jungles I've been to in my life, Sigiriya is the most scary of them all where the bulk of the film is shot.

"My excitement was also to shoot a jungle, as it has been never done before, which I achieved with the background score, special effects and camera movements," he explained.

Varma's future projects include "Rakta Charitra" and a three-dimensional film.

RGV sends out 'Jana Gana Mana Rann' music video copies to 500 MPs

A few days before the matter of Ram Gopal Varma's revisionist version of the national anthem goes to the Supreme Court, Ram Gopal Varma and his co-producers Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Talwar have prepared CD's of the their 'Jana Gana Mana Rann' music-video and sent them off to all the members of parliament in the country.

Explains Mantena, "We did this so that the people who lead the country would have a clear idea of what we've done. See, it's easy to believe hearsay, and fall for malicious attempts to prove that we've played around with the National Anthem. Protest in our country is always based on ignorance. We wanted to change that."

This week 500 CDs of the Rann anthem were sent off to the MPs. "This is not meant to influence the judiciary, only to ensure that no one gets the wrong picture," says Mantena.

The Rann publicity machinery claims the film will be released on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. But the inside information is otherwise.

Says a source, "The October 2 release date was Ram Gopal Varma's attempt to be as defiant and politically incorrect as possible. We've not fixed a release date for Rann."

Supreme Court disapproves of Ramu's song

The Supreme Court on Monday disapproved of the controversial song "Jana Gana Mana Rann" in director Ram Gopal Varma's new film "Rann", saying nobody has the right to tinker with the national anthem.

A vacation bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice R.M. Lodha said this while hearing a lawsuit by the director challenging the denial of permission for exhibition of a promotional film for the song, which is based on India's national anthem "Jana Gana Mana".

"We have read it (the script of the song). It gives a total negative sense. It appears that every line of the national anthem has been proved wrong," said the bench.

"Nobody has got the right to tinker with the national anthem," the bench observed, while denying any prompt legal relief to Varma against the May 8 order of the Central Film Certification Board.

The board had denied Varma the permission for release of the promo on the grounds that the song, "Jana Gana Mana Rann", had distorted and tampered with the national anthem.

Refusing to grant any urgent legal relief to the film director, the bench told him to first approach the appellate tribunal, set up under the Cinematography Act, 1952 to challenge the board's decision.

The bench also asked the tribunal to decide on Varma's lawsuit challenging the board's decision within a month and subsequently asked the film director to come back to it if he was not satisfied with the appellate tribunal's ruling.

Appearing for Varma, senior counsel Arun Jaitley sought scrapping of the board's decision, contending that it has prompted various television channels to not show the promo.

Jaitley contended that the board's decision has made even mobile telephone service providers averse to uploading the song as caller tunes for fear of insulting the national anthem.

In his lawsuit, Varma contended that the "Jana Gana Mana Rann" song in his film merely uses the national anthem in a respectful manner for the purpose of artistic expression.

He said the issue involves a citizens' fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

Jaitley argued that if the film song could be misconstrued as showing disrespect to the national anthem, then the flag of various political parties too would be regarded as no lesser an insult to the national flag.

He said after all the flags of parties like the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Trinamool Congress bear a striking similarity to the national flag barring their central symbols.

But the court did not appear to be convinced by his argument.

Ramu's battle over 'Rann' continues

Censor board refused to clear his new movie

The Supreme Court on Monday (May 25) asked noted film director Ram Gopal Varma to approach a tribunal set up under cinematogrophy laws to challenge the censor board's direction against showing the movie "Rann".

The censor board refused to clear "Rann" unless it removed a song that's a take-off on the national anthem. Varma has refused to remove the song.

A vacation bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar asked the tribunal to decide within a month Varma's application challenging the censor board's decision.

The bench also asked Varma to come to it after a month if he is not satisfied with the decision.

The Censor Board of Film Certification refused permission to air the controversial song. It said the national anthem was distorted in the movie.

Surya from Tamil Ghajini will play Vivek's nemesis in RGV's Rakta Charitra

This is turning out to be some frantic time at the Ram Gopal Varma office, what with an announcement a day being made, courtesy three of his films being at different stage of production - Agyaat, Rann and Rakta Charitra.

The latest piece of news that has made a sudden impact is that of an actor finally being finalized to play the role of Suri in Rakta Charitra. He is none other than Tamil superstar Surya who played the part of the lead protagonist in Ghajini much before Aamir Khan reprised the same role in the film's Hindi version. Making a mark with dozens of tattoo marks on his body years back, he created history with Ghajini before Aamir Khan took the film to an altogether different level.

Now Surya has been cast as Paritala Ravi's [Vivek Oberoi] nemesis in Rakta Charitra, one of the most ambitious ventures of Ram Gopal Varma in the recent times. This has come as a complete surprise since till about a fortnight back; Manoj Bajpai's name was floating around the industry circles. Even though Ramu had denied Manoj's inclusion by stating that it was not yet decided that who was going to play the part of Suri, he had re-emphasized the point that his character was very integral to Rakta Charitra, especially in the second part of the film (for the uninitiated, Rakta Charitra is a two part film that would be released in January and April 2010 respectively).

With Surya's name being confirmed for the said role, it dashes the hopes of countless Bollywood followers who were hoping for a casting coup of sorts by seeing Ramu make peace with both Vivek Oberoi and Manoj Bajpai in one go.

Says a source attached to the film, "This character is quite strong and Ramu was mighty impressed with what he saw of Surya in Ghajini and some other films that he has done. He felt that for a strong role like that of Suri, a stronger personality was the need of the hour. Also, bringing Vivek and Surya on the same platform is bound to make heads turn as their roles are such that their scenes together would get some high voltage drama on screen."

Though Surya was unavailable for comment, sources close to him state that he was just waiting for an opportunity like Rakta Charitra to come his way. "He was noticed by Hindi filmmakers after his Tamil Ghajini but came into quite some limelight once Aamir's version of the film released. Suddenly, Bollywood woke up to him and he was being approached with interesting offers. However, Ramu's offer turned out to be the most tempting of the lot and he grabbed it with both hands", he says.

Ramu can't be punished for distorting national anthem

Director Ram Gopal Varma has irked the censor board by tampering with the national anthem for the song "Jana gana mana rann hai" in his upcoming film "Rann" which stars megastar Amitabh Bachchan. Lawyers say there is no specific law to prevent people from doing so.

"There can't be anything disparaging on the national anthem or flag or any such property. One can't play around with these things. But sadly, no legal action against any person can be taken if he or she tampers with the anthem because there is no law for it," Lalit Bhasin, president of the Society of Indian Law Firms, told IANS.

According to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, a person could be charged with a criminal offence with regard to the national anthem only if he or she "intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian national anthem or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing".

Bhasin also said that nothing can be done to prevent Varma from using the anthem under the existing law.

Varma faced the ire of protesters and a ban on the song by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) after he showcased the first look of "Rann" last week. But the filmmaker maintains it does not portray the national anthem in bad light.

"Through this song, we are talking about the (ongoing) disputes in the country but there were no intentions to ridicule anything. It's something I felt in my heart and it was my idea to place the song like this. It is based on the script of my film and I don't think there's any offence in it," Varma had said.

The promo, however, led to protesters burning effigies of Varma and Bachchan in Mumbai and Ranchi a few weeks ago.

A Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader, who was among the 100-odd protesters in Ranchi, had said: "We cannot tolerate twisting of the national song. It is dishonour of the national song and the country. We are planning to file public interest litigation in the Jharkhand High Court seeking banning of the movie."

But such acts of protest are futile, say lawyers.

"I don't see why justice is going to the roads. When there is no punishment for the act according to the law, nothing can be done about it. I have heard the song and there is no dishonour to the national anthem," said Supreme Court lawyer Pinki Anand.

"Freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen. And when there is no system of law against what the filmmaker has done, no amount of people taking to the roads and agitation can help," she added.

Jayant Bhushan, a senior advocate, echoed similar sentiments and said: "Freedom of speech is important. One shouldn't be too sensitive. I don't think the filmmaker has dented the national anthem by just changing a few lines. The dignity of the national anthem is not so fragile."

Varma is now moving Supreme Court after the censor board refused permission to air the song, said producer Madhu Mantena.

However, Lalit Bhasin said that the CBFC can ban either a part or the entire film "if its content is socially misgiving and creates unrest among people".

"But if the filmmakers are going to appeal to the court, only the judges will have the final say," he said.

Rann to release on Gandhi Jayanti

While it was confirmed last week itself that Ram Gopal Varma's much hyped and already in controversy Rann would be releasing in the month of October, the latest piece of news that has just come in is that 2nd October has been locked in as D-day for the film's release. Considering the fact that the film comes with a volatile theme and is expected to boast of a power house drama, a Gandhi Jayanti release is obviously not just a coincidence.

"The world knows that 2nd October was the day when the Father of the Nation was born. He taught the world the power of tolerance. Now on the same day, Rann will show the world something that will make them lose their faith in this blinded tolerance to each and everything", comes a very strong statement from an insider who wished to be unnamed.

With Rann already been in controversy due to it's theme track 'Jana Gana Rann', isn't it's 2nd October release adding fire to the fuel?

"To each his own", says the source, "Why don't we also look at the business angle of affairs. Any film would like to come over a long weekend and with 2nd October being a Friday (a National holiday), the film is already looking at an extended weekend. Which film won't want to arrive in such productive time frame?"

However, one can't deny the fact that by choosing 2nd October as D-day, Rann has made a smart move by making quite a few other films do a rethinking around their release strategy. With this Ram Gopal Varma film being one of the biggest to arrive this year, what with a power packed star cast spear headed by Amitabh Bachchan and well aided by others like Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Sudeep, Rajat Kapoor, Gul Panag, Neetu Chandra, Rajpal Yadav and Mohnish Behl, it is only bound to create ripples amongst other production houses that may be looking at bringing their film over the stated weekend.

Says a member of Rann, "The film has been shaping up exceedingly well and it will not just wake you but shock you. And please, it is not an out and out political drama per se, as is being speculated by a few out there. In fact that's just one part of it. Believe me, when you will walk out of the film, you won't want to move on to doing something else. Instead you will want to sit down and put your thinking cap on to retrospect on the drama that just unfolded."

Though Ram Gopal Varma was unavailable for comment, the know-how of the industry are quite sure that he won't miss the opportunity of bringing his topical Rann on 2nd October.