‘Don’t know if Rajinikanth can exist without slow motion,’ says Ram Gopal Varma: ‘He can’t do a Bhikhu Mhatre’ (original) (raw)
Rajinikanth in a still from Vettaiyan.
Ram Gopal Varma, who has made films like Company, Satya, Sarkar among many others, recently said that the entity of a star and actor is completely different. In fact, RGV went on to say that someone like Rajinikanth or Amitabh Bachchan, who are both massive stars may not be the best actors as they are seen as “demigods.” RGV added that he wouldn’t know if Rajinkanth can exist “without slow motion.” He also recalled a particular Amitabh Bachchan scene that he hated because his character was supposed to be acting like he had a stomach ache.
Talking to Pinkvilla, RGV made a distinction between a star and an actor and said, “Acting is about a character, star is about a performance. And there is a lot of difference between the two. Is Rajinikanth a good actor? I don’t know. I don’t think Rajinikanth can do a Bhikhu Mhatre.” Bhikhu Mhtare, played by Manoj Bajpayee in Satya, gave Manoj instant popularity. RGV then added, “Without slow motion, I don’t know if Rajinikanth can exist.” The director said that watching Rajinikanth walking in slow motion is enough for his audience as it gives them what they came in for.
“You don’t mind seeing Rajinikanth walking in slow motion for half of the film without doing anything. It is giving you a high,” he said and added that it can be “disappointing” for the audience to watch a “star do a normal character.”
He then recalled watching Amitabh Bachchan in a film where his character had to have a stomach ache. “I used to hate that scene. I don’t want to see Amitabh Bachchan having a stomach ache. So you always look at them like demigods. Demigods can’t become characters,” he said.
RGV has worked extensively with Amitabh Bachchan in films like Sarkar, Sarkar Raj, RGV Ki Aag, Rann, Nishabd, among others. In a recent chat with Galatta Plus, he said that he felt guilty about making Bachchan go through the failure of RGV Ki Aag. He said, “Amitabh Bachchan put his reputation at stake because he agreed to do RGV Ki Aag and the fact that film became a laughing stock, the reason is me, not him.”