What Siddhartha has done with Bhairava Geetha, I couldn't have: Ram Gopal Varma

Ram Gopal Varma feels lucky to have discovered a technician like Siddhartha Thatholu, the director of Bhairava Geetha. He assures that the audience will applaud the 23-year-old after watching the film. “As I’ve alreay seen it, I know how good the film is,” adds RGV on the sidelines of the trailer release on Saturday. The film will be released in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.   

He’s equally lavish in his praise of actor Dhananjay, who was referred to RGV by co-producer Bhaskar Rashi. “I was impressed with the actor’s performance in Tagaru, and thought he would be the perfect choice for the role in Bhairava Geetha. I must say that he is a most promising actor. His realistic approach and style of acting (method acting) is very rare in the South. After seeing him in Bhairava Geetha, I have become a big fan of him,” says the filmmaker, who assures us that his upcoming production will be different from what we’re used to seeing on the big screen. “Credit must go to the first-time director. There is genuine new talent coming together in this film. I am not saying this because I am part of the film, but from a filmmaker’s point of view.”

Spotting Siddhartha

RGV recalls how he received a visit from a short film maker when he was shooting for Killing Veerappan in Visakhapatnam. “I was impressed with his work and asked him to come to Mumbai with his friends, who were also into short films. Siddhartha was one of them. He was a person of few words. But whenever he made suggestions to me about a cut, I was always impressed,” he says, adding, “When I was doing a particular web series, he got involved in the project and suggested a concept, which caught my attention. That’s when my confidence in him went up. Having said that, making a film is a different ball game and I wasn’t sure whether he would be able to pull it off. I was worried if he would be able to handle actors, but he said he could. From there on, there was no looking back.”
  
‘He surprised me with every scene’ 

RGV, who is presenting the film, says that Siddhartha took his own decisions, and rarely asked for advice while shooting. “Everything was his call. When I read the script, I only had a vague idea about how it would look. Siddhartha surprised me with the way he has captured every scene.” The veteran director says he learnt a lot from the debutant. “Had I directed Bhairava Geetha, I wouldn’t have been able to match up to Siddhartha. His vision was far superior,” he adds.

Losing interest in cinema

The filmmaker tells us that he finds it very difficult to watch a film today. “I am mostly inclined towards documentaries. My interest in cinema is different from others. I don’t see it like a regular viewer. I don’t watch it for the story. I tend to focus on the craftsmanship. If I don’t find that interesting, I stop watching,” he says, adding that Bhairava Geetha has a mix of both story and craftsmanship.