Ram Gopal Varma is known for his gangster dramas, but the filmmaker, at one point, gave us some spine-chilling horror films, too, like Raat (1992), Bhoot (2003), Vaastu Shastra (2004, as a producer). In recent times, we have seen an interesting trend where Bollywood is enthusiastic about making horror-comedies, and the audience is lapping it up.

When we asked RGV if he has considered venturing into this genre, he said, “I am not sure if I would like to explore horror-comedies, because I don’t have a natural tendency for comedy. Horror is serious business, and I like to scare people more than trying to make them laugh.”

Audiences’ tastes have evolved over the past few years, and along with that, our filmmakers have also become more experimental in terms of the stories they are telling and the subjects they are picking up. 

Talking about his own trajectory, the filmmaker says, “Frankly, I have been reinventing myself all the time. I kept changing my genres, from horror and gangster films to political dramas and love stories. As far as comedy is concerned, I did a bit with the Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar-starrer Daud (1997). Comedy doesn’t come naturally to me, and whenever I want to watch a film, the last thing I look for is a comedy.”

For someone who juggles work between Hindi and South film industries, RGV isn’t surprised that today, South movies are getting so much love and appreciation from the Indian audience. “I feel the sensibilities are different. While on the one hand, Bollywood filmmakers think that they are connected to the masses, South filmmakers are the masses. The latter make films they want to see. If you make a film you don’t believe in, then it won’t work,” he signs off.