Be it on social media through his tweets or sharing his take through cinematic expressions like his movies, Ram Gopal Varma has never shied away from speaking his mind. After entertaining the audience with path-breaking movies like Raat, Rangeela, Satya, Company, Bhoot, Sarkar, Rakta Charitra, among others, the National Award-winning filmmaker is now entering a new genre with his latest offering, Dangerous. The movie is being billed as India’s first lesbian love story since the Supreme Court annulled section 377, thus making same-sex relationship legitimate. Produced by Tricky Media Production, the movie is headlined by Naina Ganguly and Apsara Rani.
Sharing his take on the annulment of section 377, Varma says, “Before that, same-sex relationships were termed as unnatural. But it comes down to what you are from within. We have to respect every individual’s feelings and sentiments, be it LGBTQIA+ or otherwise.”
Speaking about the movie, the Shool maker says, “The story is an assimilation of sex, crime and action and reveals how these two women meet and get emotionally involved with each other. Their robbery plan creates a chain reaction, putting them on the radar of a gang and the cops.”
The motion poster of the movie is quite sensual and one can only imagine what the end product will be like. Ask him about how the shooting of the movie go, Varma is quick to point, “Naina and Apsara were quite comfortable in shooting intimate scenes. They understood the pulse of the movie and had a grasp over the narrative. I was very clear during the casting about the concept as I didn’t want them getting cold feet during the shoot. I had explained how the scenes will be filmed and what the approach would be.”
And even though there are films that have been made on the LGBTQIA+ community, the filmmaker is positive the audience will be interested in watching his take. The title track of the movie, Khatra, was launched on Friday. The film, which also features Rajpal Yadav, is set to release in November but the date is yet to be announced.
Many filmmakers were taking the OTT route when the theatres were shut. Now with cinema halls reopening, Varma says the movie will release in theatres and on OTT. “But we haven’t decided the release date. It’ll depend on the availability of cinema halls. Also, the family audience may not feel comfortable watching Dangerous in a theatre, considering the topic. So, I think the OTT will have a far better reach and attraction. But we are not sure if the movie will simultaneously release on both the platforms,” he shares.
This time, Varma has not only experimented with the genre, but he has also taken a different approach in terms of the film’s marketing. The movie has been put up for sale as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) on Block Chain, which can be purchased with any Fiat, crypto or other currency. This move makes Varma the first Indian filmmaker to draw such a plan for his movie.
Explaining how it will work and benefit the players involved, Varma says, “Dangerous will be released in theatres and on a streaming platform on a pay-per-view model. The revenues generated will be received by all the partners as per their investment ratios. It can be watched by paying in tokens or rupees or dollars or other currency, including Danger tokens. The returns will depend on the investment the person makes — more the investment, more the returns and less investment will mean lesser recovery. It’s going to be that way with each partner for the film to sustain.”
