Ram Gopal Varma and Sachiin Joshi may seem like chalk and cheese at first, but the two actually have some similarities - a cool sense of humour, the courage to call a spade a spade and their passion for cinema, which has brought them together to make Veerappan, a film based on the life of the notorious dacoit. Excerpts from a conversation with the duo:

The two of you seem very different from each other... Veerappan brought you together.
Sachiin: Yes, we are completely different from each other.
Ramu: I think we have a common fetish for dark characters, which he hides and I show openly. Veerappan managed to bring both of us out in the open!
Sachiin: Yes, we all have positive and negative shades in life. Some like to talk about it openly, like Ramu.
Ramu: There is a dialogue in Company, in which Ajay Devgn says, 'Har insaan ke andar ek rakshas hota hai.' It's just a question of timing when it comes out.

So between the two of you, Ramu is the more outspoken one?
Sachiin: I am outspoken as well, but I choose my words.
Ramu: He is basically saying he is classy and I am massy!

And what about social media.. are you as active as Ramu?
Sachiin: Not really. I don't pursue it the way he does. I'm not that regular, it's only as and when required.
Ramu: So are you saying that I do it even when it's not required?
Sachiin: He needs an audience all the time!

On a serious note, how did you come together for Veerappan?
Sachiin: We had been interacting for a year-and-a-half. Ramu showed me his Kannada film Killing Veerappan and that's how it all began.
Ramu: I made Killing Veerappan because of my interest in the subject. After Sachiin saw it, he felt there were things that could be elaborated. It was his idea to make it in Hindi.
Sachiin: It focussed on how Veerappan was killed. The Karnataka audience knew a lot about him already, so telling them about how he died was fine for that market. I felt since Veerappan's story was so intriguing, it should be explored more and shown to the world. So, I thought we should make it in Hindi on a large scale.

When did you decide to play the cop's role in it?
Sachiin: It was not on my mind at all. I just wanted to make the film.
Ramu: When Sachiin broached the topic of making this in Hindi, he did not speak to me as an actor. He spoke to me only as a producer and as someone who is passionate about cinema and believed that this story should reach a wider audience. In the course of reworking the script, I felt Sachiin would be good for this particular role and I convinced him. It's not an elaborate part, but it's an important role.

Sachiin, what was your impression of Ramu before you met him? Has that changed now?
Sachiin: I had the same perception of Ramu as everyone else, but once I started interacting with him, I felt it was completely false. There's a very different side to him.
Ramu: In other words, he heard that I was bad and later realised that I was worse!
Sachiin: Actually, there is a lot that a person has within him which is difficult to express to everyone. After our interactions, I realised there was so much more to him.

Ramu, what do you have to say about Sachiin, the producer and the actor?
Ramu: My impression of him was that he was a rich father's son who made movies once in a while. When I met him, I was taken aback with his passion and understanding of cinema. He has a focussed approach and individualistic belief about movies. As an actor, he is professional. As a producer, he believes in giving people complete freedom. All in all, here is a producer, an actor and a very genuine, passionate film lover.

Were there any differences between the two of you while working on this project? If yes, how did you resolve them?
Sachiin: It was as simple as either you convince me or I convince you.
Ramu: That's easier said than done. It doesn't happen like that. But yes, in my whole career, I have never had a more comfortable creative interaction than what I had with Sachiin.
Sachiin: The understanding between us is quite good. Of course, Ramu has far more experience. He has seen many ups and downs, good and bad of cinema. I believe only a bad can teach you what good is. With that thought process and the belief that the captain of the ship knows his job best, I let people do their jobs.

What was the toughest part about making Veerappan?
Ramu: We had to depend on research material which came from diverse resources, like from people who worked with him, played the mediator and those who had tried to capture him. Different people have different perspectives about him. For instance, Veerappan's wife believes he was one of the nicest persons and was actually protecting the forests from the government and forest department. To tell his story, we took the point of view of those who wanted to kill him. So, it's not really a biopic. Getting all the information and putting it together in a two-hour film is not easy.
Sachiin: Veerappan is an intriguing and fascinating character who had no agenda. He was a criminal by fluke and then, he just started glorifying himself for various reasons, whether it was for power, name, fame, no one really knows. The things he was doing nobody would really do, not even a criminal. For me, fitting in the real space was difficult as an actor. We have seen films in which cops are glorified. But this one had to be realistic.

Did you miss the typical song and dance routine?
Sachiin: Not really ... I'm anyway not excited about it.

How nervous are the two of you as your movie approaches its release date?
Sachiin: We have made a good product. It looks good. We are happy and excited, more than being nervous.
Ramu: It's a very special project for me. I am doing my best to see that I can present it in the best way possible rather than thinking about whether it will do well.

Basically, rather than thinking only about the box office...
Sachiin: Anything can happen at the box office. Some day, a good film might not work while a bad one might do a business of Rs 300 crore. It's also about timing, the mind frame of people and what they want to watch. There's no good time or bad time; if you are there at the right place at the right time, it might just work.