Romantic films are not a genre I would choose.
— Ram Gopal Varma
I don't think I have the patience required to undertake projects as huge as 'Baahubali.' You need to spend a lot of time and years to make something empowering like that.
Films like 'Satya,' 'Company' needed a pan-Indian audience. The affinity for Hindi film and subjects was there.
Basically, I am an anti-social person.
The reason I make more films is that I work all the time without taking a break, and I enjoy it.
When you do anything completely different from a beaten path, many tend to pounce on you.
I make movies on the subjects that excite me.
Great films happen, and no one can make them on intention.
I don't think I take risks. People think I do, but I don't. In fact, I think conventional-formula filmmakers take more risks than me.
A film, I feel, is a state of mind. A film eventually comes from an idea: based on an idea, you make a decision, and once you make the decision, you keep comparing everything to that, but don't question the decision itself.
'Satya' and 'Company' are two very dark and brooding relationship films; there was no hero.
I hate it that there are so many beautiful women in the world, and I can't have all of them for myself.
My journey to Sridevi started when I was preparing for my debut film 'Shiva.' I used to walk from Nagarjuna's office in Chennai to a neighbouring street where Sridevi used to live, and I used to just stand and watch Sridevi's house from outside her gate.
I have made only two films on the underworld. I am not educating the people on the underworld.
In Tamil, three-hour films are normal.
I understand emotions more than anyone else. I study emotions like a biologist studies various species.
I like to see women getting drenched in the rain. So to that extent, I like 'Barsaat.'
Even the biggest flops have been liked by a few select people.
I think a lot before tweeting. I show it like I don't, but I do. Sometimes I don't mean it, sometimes I mean it, and sometimes I like to provoke a reaction from people. I enjoy reactions from them.
A film sells feelings.
Films are all I know. I wouldn't know what to do with a day off.
Now a lot of people tell me that 'Daud' was ahead of its times. But when it came out, it was panned more than any of my films.
'Rakta Charitra' was more about human conflict than politics.
The people who work with me know how focused I am, and so I would advise people who are not concerned with me to rather focus on themselves instead of focusing on my focus.
I have always put the same effort in all my films irrespective of their outcome.
You are likely to make more mistakes with a light-hearted film than a serious one.
I think every star was a new actor at one point of time.
Modern warfare has become too techno-ish for my sensibilities.
My favourite virtue is not having any.
I have a habit of constantly dreaming and waking up every once in a while in the night to check out my cell phone, and I suddenly saw a message that Sridevi is no more... I thought that either it's a nightmare or a hoax, and I went back to sleep.
The point is that a filmmaker is like a journalist in projecting reality in the true sense of the word. Only thing is he dramatically packages it to make more effect.
When I was making 'Satya', many people said that nobody would like to watch such dirty people. But, when the film worked, the same people said it was so real that they could actually smell it!
I have learnt the hard way that ignoring a small fry can be many times harmful.
I feel that Sarkar is a realistic superman in his life.
As a director and a creative person, I can say banning anything is wrong.
I never think of a film after I finish it.
It is none of anyone's business how I make my films or my creative partnerships.
My driver shops for me; he selects my clothes. That is why my driver and I wear the same clothes.
I sometimes think many reviewers write the reviews of my films even before they see them.
I make movies on gritty topics like crime, the underworld, and horror. I don't make movies with good-looking people in good-looking locales.
Since everyone has a mouth, everyone will have an opinion.
Everything in 'Satya' was by chance. It was a film which just started evolving by itself. I just went mostly by instinct and kept on improvising on location, and the film just got made itself.
With 'Daud,' basically, I wanted to make a very 'Mad Max' kind of a film: that was my original intention.
'D' is about a guy who starts off somewhere, and he's a very thinking kind of a guy. He's not an emotional person; he doesn't react to situations. Instead, he's virtually choreographing the situations. So it's a development of a character.
I despise all those who fight for peace. It's only the bad guys and the troublemakers who create entertaining and history-changing events.
Sridevi is the most beautiful and the most sensuous woman God ever created, and I think He creates such exquisite pieces of art like her only once in a thousand years.
I hate Sridevi. I hate her for making me realise that she, too, is finally only just a human being. I hate that her heart, too, has to beat to live.
Language is just a communication tool; it is the content that decides the fate of a film.
Many people don't understand that in filmmaking, if you make a fundamental mistake, everything goes wrong - but you don't realise it till the film is made.
I don't think cinema is big or small. It's just good or bad.
