"I have to now bear with other's flops also" - Ramu after the release of Raavan
By Joginder Tuteja, June 21, 2010 - 09:58 IST
Trust Ram Gopal Varma to allow a joke on himself time and again. He was the last man standing and came up with a big laugh even as his Aag was a butt of jokes for months at stretch. The jokes ended after a while but he never stopped laughing. So much so that in every major conversation with them, the topic of Aag invariably comes up and Ramu too doesn't mind giving a byte or two on the making and the subsequent destruction of Aag.
No wonder, due to the very fact that he was laughing on his own work (Aag, Shiva - the new one - and some more films) meant that detractors had to find a new way to hit back on the filmmaker who doesn't mind taking a dig on films by other people as well. While his sweet and sour war of words with Karan Johar comes with an ability of creating front page headlines till date, Ramu truly believes that ever since Aag, he has found himself in a position where he has to bear with other flops as well. Reason being that every time a film flops, it finds a reference to Aag by getting titled as 'XYZ director ki Aag'.
Says Ramu with mock laughter, "When Tashan came, they said its 'Aditya Chopra ki Aag'. For Chandni Chowk to China, it was Nikhil Advani ki Aag'. For Kites it was 'Rakesh Roshan ki Aag'. Now Raavan is being termed as 'Mani Ratnam ki Aag'. I guess apart from bearing with my own flops, I have to now bear with flops coming from others as well."
While he is busy with bringing his epic film Rakta Charitra (arriving in two parts) closer to completion mark, Ramu is keeping himself abreast with what's happening in the world of Bollywood. Also, he is allowing himself a chuckle or two with some of the famed films failing left, right and centre. No wonder, he doesn't quite mind when reference to Aag comes in every few months.
"I have realized that Aag has now become more popular than Sholay", he dares to make a bold statement, though with a reason, "That's because a hit like Sholay comes once in a lifetime whereas a flop like Aag comes every few months. That's the reason why there are so many references to Aag made time and again."
Not to be bogged down by scathing comments that are usually reserved for him, he makes a final strike by stating, "I am happy that if not anything else, I at least managed to set up a bench mark for flops. I can see that Aag will live on for many more years to come."
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