Ram Gopal Varma, for many years now, has been churning out films without a pause. A huge part of his recent slate of movies is in Telugu, but he’s gearing up for several Hindi films this year. Recently, the filmmaker, who has helmed movies like Rangeela (1995), Satya (1998), Company (2002) and Sarkar (2005), among others, chatted with Bombay Times about moving base to Goa, his successful protégés like Manoj Bajpayee and Anurag Kashyap, and how some of his failures have shaped him as a filmmaker. Excerpts:

For most of the stuff that I am shooting, I am getting better locations in Goa. And frankly, it doesn’t matter where you are today. The visuals, the weather, and everything else is working out well for me over here. If I have some work, I will come back to Mumbai.

Look, in a story, let’s say like Sarkar, I believe that without having the image or a personality of someone like Amitabh Bachchan as Sarkar, the narrative would not have worked. It would not have had the same impact with a new face playing the character. In Company (2002), I cast Ajay Devgn and Vivek Anand Oberoi. Ajay plays a character who is revered by people in his line of work, while Vivek’s character grows in stature from scratch. The characters influence my casting decisions. When I made Satya, I wanted an actor who could blend into the underbelly of Mumbai; he had to be someone who would fit in, easily. That’s the reason I cast Manoj Bajpayee and the rest of them.

The only thing I learned is that one can never fully learn. Every film you make is new. Even though you try to learn from your mistakes, you continue to make new mistakes. Anyone who says otherwise, doesn’t know what he is doing. We’re sum totals of what we have done in life. I don’t want to change anything about myself. A mistake could be in the perception of the outsider. Every failure has added to my personality. I don’t see them as mistakes because something which was bad at one point seems to be great at another time. I don’t quote box office when I pick on my worst works.

I think the worst film of my life was Drohi (1992) because I failed the material I had in hand. I botched it up. I don’t like Company for the same reason. I could not do justice to the material. But because of Drohi, I have a standing in the Hindi film industry. I met Urmila Matondkar while making it, which led to Rangeela (1995). I changed the backdrop of Drohi and made Satya. The credit for both those films rolls back to Drohi. I got two of my iconic films from that one film. Life, unlike a movie, goes on. Hence, you don’t need to look back every few moments for a lesson.

There is nothing anyone can teach you. You learn as much as you want to learn. Anurag’s style of filmmaking is different from mine and that is his individuality, and it is good for him. Manoj and he are talented people. I have never believed that I launched them in any manner or that I had taught them something. I have made a number of films and worked with numerous people. You brought up these two names because they have become names today. I am in touch with them, but they are busy, and we have not worked together (in recent years).

I’m from Hyderabad. I got busy making political films there as there was a lot happening in that space. Then, I started making a movie based on martial arts, which I wanted to do for a while. It’s called Ladki. I had a balance of 15 days of shooting when the lockdown stalled everything. I’ve completed it now. You will get to see more of me. You will soon get to see a lesbian love story that I have made, it’s a crime drama. There’s another gangster drama that will shock the daylights out of people.

I have quadrupled my speed of work in recent times. I am doing much more now. I think people who don’t work much, burnout. I have so many stories to tell, and that is the only thing I do. I would rather ask people why they don’t feel motivated enough to clock every second of the day and do something with it.

The OTT platforms have helped filmmakers cut out the publicity and release costs, which were over and above the cost of making the film. One had to cast known faces so they could draw in people. Casting new faces was not seen as a reasonable decision. That’s not the case with the OTT platforms. They need content to feed their audience. If you’ve noticed, content works better than star faces in the OTT space. And like I said earlier, I never say that I have launched anyone. They were all casting decisions. In Sarkar, where a character called Rashid talks to Sarkar, I needed a new guy, an unknown person to walk in and talk to Mr Bachchan while looking him in the eye. That created a great impact. It’s not a question of modesty, but I am not here to launch anyone. I am a selfish filmmaker and every decision is for the best result.

I’m not making a comment on anything specific, however, I see them very differently. I am into character studies. I see the emotional complexities of the people. Violence and crime are a very small part of the story. What I see is when people lead a difficult, complex life born out of tragedy — what happens to them.