Controversy's favourite child Ram Gopal Varma unfazed as he is slammed for his insensitive April Fool joke about testing positive for Coronavirus
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; April 3, 2020)

When he is not making headlines for his outrageous comments, Ram Gopal Varma is ruffling feathers with his morbid brand of humour. On Wednesday, controversy's favourite child was at it again as he posted a tweet that read, "My doctor just told me that I tested positive with Corona." As word spread, the filmmaker, in a subsequent tweet, claimed that it was an "April Fool joke". Although he apologised on social media, he was widely criticised for his insensitive tweets.

"The only way to remain sane in such a [grim] situation is to joke about it, else we will get into depression. I knew I would get trolled for it. I believe a complaint has been filed against me for spreading false information. But it was meant as an April Fool joke, nothing else," laughs Varma. Did he not worry about hurting people's sentiments with his behaviour? "I [put out the tweet] because I was getting bored," says the director, who is confined to his Hyderabad office.
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BJP seeks action against RGV

Sanjeev Shivadekar (MID-DAY; April 3, 2020)

Thr Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the Mumbai police to verify Ram Gopal Varma’s tweet and initiate action against him for the socalled “joke”. “If the message is a prank, then the police should book the director for creating panic,” Vivekanand Gupta, BJP general secretary, told mid-day.

Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, on March 31, issued a statement that citizens should not create and circulate April Fool’s Day messages on the current health crisis. The police had warned they will initiate action under the Information Technology Act against the erring people. On Monday, the Mumbai police had booked one person from the city for spreading rumours.

Slamming Varma for his insensitive joke, Gupta added, “Everyone is equal before the law. If common man is booked, the police should register an offence against Varma too.”

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 24, 2019)

A few years after Junglee, Biswajit was surprised by a call from the writer-director-producer of the 1961 musical, Subodh Mukherji. Everyone had expected him to repeat his hit pair, but the filmmaker felt Biswajit da rather than Shammi Kapoor was more suited for April Fool. It was at Mukherji’s residence, during a photo-shoot, that Biswajit da met his heroine Saira Banu. They not only struck lovey-dovey poses, but since the film was a romcom, there were photographs with masti too. These were used in banners to promote the new jodi with the tagline ‘Prince Charming meets the Beauty Queen’.

“Saira was undoubtedly a beautiful girl but I was a huge fan of her mother, (actress) Naseem Banu ji. When she swung by the set one day, I told Saira that her mother was better looking than her. She reacted with a laughing ‘Nooo,’” the veteran actor smiles over their camaraderie.

He recalls a long outdoors in Ooty when the sun would play hide-and-seek. Rather than sit around twiddling their thumbs, the unit would quickly divide themselves into two teams and start a cricket match. “Subodh da was passionate about sports and never travelled without his cricket kits. Sometimes Saira would join us for a spot of underarm bowling,” Biswajit da laughs, adding that even after the light returned, they’d plead with the ‘boss’ to let them finish an over.

It was in Ooty that the title track was filmed. “Neither Saira nor I had time to stand and stare during the song. Either I was chasing her or she was chasing me with an umbrella. People still play 'April Fool Banaya' on April 1,” the film’s hero points out.

You wonder if he played a prank on anyone during the shoot or vice versa and Biswajit da recalls how for “Aa Gale Lag Ja” during a week-long night shoot at Burma Shell’s swimming pool, Saira ji conspired with a bevy of German ballet dancers, who’d been specially flown down, to play the fool with him. “All through the song, the girls were swimming in the pool while I circled it from the edge, in a white suit, trying to coax Saira, dazzling in a gold sequined swimsuit, to come into my arms. It was only for the last few lines that I descended into the pool, stretched out on the float, while the girls converged around me. Then, suddenly, they were pulling me into the cold water with them, and because I was taken by surprise, I fell clumsily and water went into my eyes, nose and mouth. I was hauled out, dripping and spluttering, while Saira and the girls climbed out giggling triumphantly,” he flashbacks to the swinging ’60s, informing that during another Shankar-Jaikishan hit song, “Kehdo Kehdo”while boating in a lake, his leading lady almost went over when he pushed the oars a little too strongly. “The boat swayed dangerously. Luckily, I grabbed Saira in time.”

On Sunday evening, Biswajit is having his first live musical concert at Mumbai, at Ravindra Natya Mandir, during which he will be recounting anecdotes and playing some of his chartbusters. “I will sing 'April Fool Banaya' live, it will be my birthday gift to Saira who turned 75 yesterday,” Biswajit da promises.

Strangely the playful duo never worked together again after April Fool, which released in 1964. But they did bump into each other at parties, and once at a wedding in Lucknow. “I had to fly directly to Kolkata but my wife Ira and daughter Prima returned with Saira and Dilip saab on the same flight. Ira wasn’t keeping well and they were both very solicitous, offering to drop them home because they’d landed very late till Ira assured them that our chauffeur was waiting,” he reminisces. “Dilip saab is an institution, our real Kohinoor. Just his presence is a guiding light for us. And with Saira by his side, I know he has all the love and care in the world. She’s his better half in the real sense, I admire her devotion.”