Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma was disappointed when many theatres refused to screen his lesbian film, Khatra. He wonders why the subject of homosexuality continues to face stigma. “Anything related to sex still remains a taboo, especially something like this (homosexuality) or a subject that is looked down upon by people,” Varma tells us.

He continues, “Despite the Supreme Court repealing Section 377 nearly four-and-a-half years ago, I don’t think people are willing to talk about it (the subject of homosexuality) even today.”

The filmmaker adds that he and the team of Khatra had to plan the marketing of the film strategically: “We had to find a middle path of not having the theme imposed on the posters. We wanted to ensure that the audience doesn’t discover anything about it before stepping into the theatre.”

Meanwhile, Varma, who marked his OTT debut recently with a Telugu web series, Dhahanam, feels great that regional content is getting accepted across all regions. “The first-ever demonstration of this was Narcos. The story was based in Mexico (USA), but was shot in Spanish. Now, it is watched in almost every country. Today, it is more about characters and their conflicts. Every language can reach everywhere, which is evident from the popularity of Korean content,” ends the filmmaker.

It is almost 20 years since filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma introduced Isha Koppikar as the ‘Khallas girl’ in his 2002 hit film, Company. After dabbling in various south projects and making her web debut with Fixer in 2019, the actor is back with Dhahanam. The MX Player crime thriller, produced by RGV, narrates the story of a son avenging his father’s death. While playing a cop isn’t new for Koppikar, who was seen in the avatar before in  Kya Kool Hain Hum (2005), this one was different.

“My character is a crime controller. She is thrown into a male-dominated heartland where all the perpetrators are hardcore gangsters and Naxalites. It was quite challenging to be there without feeling intimidated,” says Koppikar, who plays IPS officer Anjana Sinha in the series directed by Agasthya Manju.

Koppikar, who has been refusing to take up projects unless it is “in accordance with what I wanted in my career as an actor”, didn’t have to second guess when she got the call from Varma. “He is someone who has the guts to do things that are out of the ordinary. Whenever you get the call, rest assured, the project will always be well thought out and your role will be justified,” says the actor, who reminisces how after Company, she worked with the filmmaker again in Darling (2007) and was surprised to be offered a “role of a demure housewife, which was contrary to my image”. “This is the first time I am playing a cop in an RGV production. I don’t doubt his judgment. He gave me one line from the entire series and [I was hooked],” adds Koppikar.

While the Shabri actor is used to RGV’s style of dark and gritty stories, Koppikar was not mentally prepared to shoot in the difficult terrains that are part of the narrative. “We shot in the interiors and unexplored places of the south. While the sternness and the discipline that a cop exudes came easy to me, it was difficult to adjust to the terrain. We were living, working, and running in places [I have never] been to before,” she says.

Koppikar will next be seen in a political satire, and a film with Sivakarthikeyan, Rakul Preet Singh, and Sharad Kelkar. “It is an Rs. 100 crore multilingual science fiction film. My role is similar to that of a femme fatale like Lara Croft. There will be a tsunami of me this year,” she concludes.