Why Ram Gopal Varma Was Ashamed After Watching Satya

‘I’ve
never
seen
Ramuji
cry…
even
when
his
father
passed
away.’
‘But
after
the
special
screening
of

Satya
he
was
crying.’

J
D
Chakravarthy,
who
made

Satya
come
alive
in
Ram
Gopal
Varma’s
cult
classic
film,
revisits
it
decades
after
its
release
in
1998.

He
tells

Subhash
K
Jha,
“There
is
a
hurt
from
the
past
27
years
that
I’ve
been
carrying,
this
lump
in
my
heart,
because
the
whole
world
said
I
was
good,
fantastic,
superb…
but
it
took
Ramuji
27
years
to
acknowledge
my
performance.”

What
do
you
have
to
say
about
the
impact
of

Satya?

I
think
I
need
to
change
the
timelines.

I
would
like
to
start
with
what
happened
after
the
show
on
January
15,
when

Satya
re-released.

I
have
been
associated
with
Ramuji
from

Shiva.
I’ve
been
his
assistant.

He’s
produced
about
36
films
with
me.

I
directed
12
films
for
him.

I
edited…
we
can
go
on.

The
point
is,
I’ve
never
seen
him
cry…
even
when
his
father
passed
away.

But
after
the
special
screening
of

Satya
he
was
crying.

That
was
the
first
time
we
hugged
each
other.

Then
he
started
saying
something
very
interesting,
which
why
I
said
I
need
to
change
the
timeline.

What
did
he
say?

He
said,
I’m
ashamed
of
myself
because
this
is
what
I
made
once
and
look
at
what
I
did
later.

Then
he
said
something
about
me.
He
said
he
didn’t
shoot
my
introduction
part.

He
said,
‘I’m
surprised
and
sad
that
how
did
I
not
notice
that
you
were
brilliant
in
the
film?’

What
was
your
reaction?

I
said,
‘Sir,
I
just
want
to
tell
you
something.
There
is
a
hurt
from
the
past
27
years
that
I’ve
been
carrying,
this
lump
in
my
heart,
because
the
whole
world
said
I
was
good,
fantastic,
superb…
but
it
took
you
27
years
to
acknowledge
my
performance.’

I
always
thought
because
of
the
aggressive
nature
of
Bhiku
Mhatre’s
character,
I
played
Satya
very
quietly.

When
I
walk
out
of
the
VT
station,
anyone
who
walks
into
Bombay
for
the
first
time,
the
first
thing
they
see
after
they
come
out
of
the
station
are
the
high
buildings.
But
I
didn’t
look
at
anything.

I
just
kept
walking.

Ramuji
said,
When
someone
comes
out,
he
looks
for
transportation
like
an
autorickshaw,
taxi
or
a
bus;
they
would
have
some
destination.
But
you
just
droop
your
shoulders
so
that
in
the
very
walk,
you
can
see
that
you
don’t
have
any
destination.

He
said,
If
I
had
a
chance
to
do
it
again,
I
would
have
asked
you
to
look
around
but
the
way
you
performed…

And
then
he
started
saying
all
those
scenes.

Every
actor
in
the
film
was
given
the
rough
lines
in
the
scene,
and
asked
to
perform,
even
improvise.
But
I
was
the
only
one
in
the
entire
set,
who
was
told
to
do
nothing.

That’s
so
difficult!

I
am
an
extrovert.
I
had
to
make
sure
my
character
Satya
does
not
look
dull.
He
should
look
like
a
guy
who’s
silent
but
extremely
focused.

I
was
constantly
reminded
on
the
sets,

aapko
kuch
nahi
karne
ka
hai,
just
understand
the
world
around
me.

It
was
a
challenge.

Yes,
we
noticed
your
stillness.

There
is
a
scene
where
Guru
Narayan
(Raju
Mavani)
walks
out
of
the
airport
and
we
are
planning
to
kill
him.
Bhikhu
Mhatre
(Manoj
Bajpayee)
is
standing
beside
a
tree
and
I’m
sitting
in
a
car.

Guru
Narayan’s
car
passes
by
and
I
get
out
of
the
car.
I
was
told
to
stand
beside
Manoj.

I
said
no,
just
because
I’m
Satya,
I
have
to
come
and
stand
beside
him?
Because
the
focus
would
be
in
the
centre.

I
said,
technically,
if
I
am
walking
towards
Manoj,
there
is
only
space
on
the
left
edge
of
the
camera.

So
I
was
just
standing
there
and
not
even
putting
an
effort
to
be
seen.

Now
that’s
a
difficult
thing.

Satya
was
not
my
first
film.
I
was
already
a
big
star
down
South.
So
for
me,
my
journey
in
the
South
was
to
be
in
focus,
so
and
this
was
so
difficult
to
be
out
of
focus.

You
were
also
a
part
of
the
technical
team?

I
was
a
part
of
the
editing
team.

I
was
also
in
charge
for
the
post-production,
sound,
everything.

The
post-production
of

Satya
in
all
the
three
languages,
so
Ramuji
told
me
a
good-bad
news.

He
said,
‘Chakri,
I
don’t
want
to
use
a
background
score
for
your
one-liners.’

Now,
actors
subconsciously
feel
that
if
they
do
something,
there
will
be
a
sound
effect
on
me
or
some
music
which
will
enhance
the
performance.

So
firstly,
I
was
the
only
actor
who
was
told
not
to
do
anything.

Secondly,
I
had
to
remain
out
of
the
focus.

Thirdly,
Ramuji
told
me
after
the
very
first
schedule
that
there
would
be
no
music
or
background
score
effect
on
me.

So
this
was
not
an
easy
thing
to
do.

Initially,
it
was
difficult
to
come
in
terms
with
this
but
I
thought,

nahi,
this
is
like
a
fixed
deposit.
This
will
probably
take
time
but
it
will
work
for
you
in
the
long
run.

I
confessed
something
recently
to
Ramuji.

Please
tell.

When
we
are
doing
the
climax,
Ramuji
told
me,
‘Chakri,

dekh
climax

mein
roughly,
this
is
what
I’m
thinking.
I
don’t
want
you
to
use
any
method
acting,
so
the
next
day,
go
for
the
shoot
and
we’ll
just
do
it.’

I
said,
done
sir.

So
the
next
day,
we
did
the
climax,
whatever
you
see
in
the
film.

At
the
re-release,
I
called
my
steadicam
operator
—
his
name
is
Nitin
Rao
—
and
told
him
that
it’s
time
to
confess
the
truth
to
Ramuji.

Actually,
I
had
planned
out
my
entire
performance
because
Ramuji
doesn’t
like
those
like
falling
down
and
then
struggling
to
get
up.
He
thought
it
would
get
melodramatic.

So
what
I
did
was
to
take
my
steadicam
operator
into
confidence
about
what
I
was
going
to
do
and
how
he
had
to
capture
what
we
had
rehearsed.

The
truth
is,
we
rehearsed
it
but
in
front
of
Ramuji,
we
pretended
(to
do
it
for
the
first
time).

Did
you
expect

Satya
to
make
such
an
impact?

To
be
very
honest,
none
of
us,
including
Ramuji,
saw
this
coming.

See,
the
filmmaker
generally
thinks
that
every
film
is
going
to
be
a
super
duper
hit.

While
we
were
making

Satya,
we
knew
we’re
making
a
good
film.
But
how
good?
No
idea.

There’s
something
else.

Tell
us.

The

Golimaar
Bheja
Mein
song.
Our
cameraman
Gerard
Hooper
was
from
America.
His
visa
expired
and
he
had
to
rush
back.

But
the
next
day,
we
already
called
for
the
shoot.

Ahmed
Khan
was
supposed
to
be
the
choreographer.

The
whole
unit
was
there,
and
we
introduced
the
new
cameraman:
Ramuji
himself!