Known for courting controversy with his opinions, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has once again stirred up a hornet's nest with his comments about Rajinikanth and his acting.

In a short clip from an interview circulating on social media, Varma is heard saying that he doesn’t know if “Rajinikanth would have existed if not for slow motion.” He adds that he is unsure how good an actor Rajinikanth is and opines that the superstar could never play a role like Bhiku Mhatre (portrayed by Manoj Bajpayee) in his gangster drama Satya (1998).

While many Rajinikanth fans reacted by listing films where the actor played de-glamorized roles that did not rely on over-the-top fan service, others attempted to provide context by sharing an extended clip. In this version, Varma explains that actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth are perceived as demigods, making it difficult for audiences to accept them as ordinary humans. He says, “There is an Amitabh film where I hated seeing him walk with a stomach ache.”

In the same segment, the Rangeela filmmaker shares his thoughts on how the entry of music companies into film production in the 1980s shifted Hindi cinema away from mass masala films toward romantic musicals—a trend that, he notes, did not impact South Indian industries in the same way.

Ram Gopal Varma recently made a cameo appearance in Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD and last directed Vyuham (2024), starring Ajmal. The film revolves around the events leading to the untimely death of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.