Ram Gopal Varma wrote a long reflective post on X after re-watching his 1998 gangster-drama Satya in theatres as it was re-released on January 17. He said that he regrets making films for ‘shock value and gimmick effect’ after Satya. He also promised himself of making films that have more honesty and sincerity moving on.
He started the note by calling it a confession that he making to himself after watching Satya again. Ram started crying as the film came to an end. “I started choking with tears rolling down my cheeks and I didn’t care if anyone would see. The tears were not just for the film, but were more for what happened since.”
He added, “Coming back to the hotel after the screening, and sitting in the dark I didn’t understand why with all my so-called intelligence, I did not set this film as a benchmark for whatever I should do in the future. I also realised I didn’t just cry for the tragedy in that film but I also cried in joy for that version of myself. And I cried in guilt for my betrayals of all those who trusted me due to Satya.”
He said that the success of Satya and Rangeela blinded him in a way. “I became drunk not on alcohol but on my own success and my arrogance though I didn’t know this till two days back. When the bright lights of a Rangeela or a Satya blinded me, I lost my vision and that explains my meandering into making films for shock value or for gimmick effect or to make a vulgar display of my technical wizardry or various other things equally meaningless and in that careless process, forgetting such a simple truth that technique utmost can elevate a given content but it can’t carry it,” he said.
He added, “Some of my later films might have been successful but I do not believe that any of them had the same honesty and integrity which is in Satya. My very unique vision that drove me to create something path breaking in cinema also blinded me to the value of what I myself made and I became a man hurriedly running so fast looking up towards the horizon. that I forgot to look down at the garden I’d planted beneath my feet, and that explains my various falls from grace.”
He said that while he cannot change what has already happened but he has made a promise to himself. “I promised myself two nights back while wiping away my tears, that every film I make from now onwards will be made with a reverence towards why I wanted to become a director in the 1st place. I might not be able to make a film like Satya ever again, but not even having an intention to do so is an unpardonable crime against cinema.”
He wished if he could go back in time and watch Satya again before making any film. “If I followed that rule, I am sure I would not have made 90% of the films I made since then,” he said.
The director ended the note by calling it a wake-up call for him. “I truly mean this as a wake-up call to every filmmaker, who just gets carried away in self-indulgence due to his own state of mind at any given moment without measuring it against the standards set by either themselves or others. Finally, now I took a vow that whatever little of my life is left, I want to spend it sincerely and create something as worthy as Satya and this truth I swear on Satya,” he concluded.
After Satya, the director made films like Kaun (1999), Company (2002), Bhoot (2003) and Sarkar (2005) among others. After this, his films marked an eventual shift in aesthetics as they became heavily stylized and often with a loose sense of story. His recent film as a director was the 2024 Telugu film Vyuham.