First of all, I don't think Varma ever expressed any "hatred" for James; he just said that he felt it wasn't "made right," and that that's why he would be helming the project himself, in a re-make. James itself, I found to be very much in the "Varma vein" of filmmaking; to me, a Ram-Gopal-Varma movie simply has a certain "feel," and James — regardless of whether I felt it worked or felt it didn't — had that "feel." Concerning the man's desire to re-make, I think he's on a bit of a binge: James, Don, Sholay, and he might have a few more up his sleeve.

right, if he didn’t feel it was made right, then he obviously felt it was made wrong - I don’t see how this is any different from what I was saying..

like I said, ramus complaint was that 'james' was a flashy comic book auctioneer. ramu is obviously known for his serious/intense brand of crime/drama - ‘shiva’ promises to be a james-type story, but reinterpreted by ramu in his more dark/heavy format (or “that ramu feel” as you put it, which is characteristic of his films)

First of all, I did not liken the "Ramu feel" (as you put it) to "dark" or "heavy." If I'd meant those two terms; I'd've used them. To me, the "Ram Gopal Varma" "feel" is indescribable; it simply exists in all his films. It comes from a combination of music, cinematography, direction, etc. D had that "feel," but so did the very different Gayab. As for James, Varma's stating that he did not like the way the product turned out, does not imply his "hatred" of it. I don't like lots of things; that doesn't mean that I hate them. It's a matter of degree, and I don't think that I'd use the two adjectives interchangeably.

to quote some of what ramu said post james - LINK

“As for James, it was supposed to be a rehash of my first Hindi film, Shiva. But, since Rohit did such a bad job of it, I’m personally rehashing Shiva myself, which means I’m technically remaking James.”

now whether ramu hated the film or if he just disliked it(as you put it) is irrelevant. he still did it for the same reason - the film clearly didn’t capture what ramu had achieved in his previous work/s(regardless of how you define that ‘feel’).

It seems, then, that, in two separate interviews, Varma contradicted himself: In another, he stated, "[Rohit Jugraj] executed James exactly the way I had visualized it." He continued, "I take the blame completely for the failure of James[u/]. I was busy with [u]Sarkar and neglected James." (http://www.nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?id=4678)

I don't think Varma intends to re-make James because the "feel" of which I speak, he felt, was lacking; I think he wants to re-make it (other than out of some sort of childish, "My-movies-don't-suck; watch-me-do-it right-this-time!" mentality) just to make it "better."

On a separate note, here's the quotation about Varma's wanting to re-capture Bachchan-Dharmendra camp in James:

"We tried to recreate the action genre from the Bachchan-Dharmendra era. We felt that the genre has been ignored. But I guess we got carried away by technical wizardry."

Continuing about what he hoped to accomplish in his re-make, "This time I'll rectify the errors in the first version. Mohit will be now projected more as the Angry Young Man of the 1970s that Mr. Bachchan played."

(http://www.nowrunning.com/news/news.asp?id=4678)

I am sure ramu neglecting the film could have played a part in the failure of james… but in the end it still was a failure according to ramu, thus not the film he intended to make




it is not a question of whether ramu wants to make the film better, that is obvious. the real question is how will he make it better… and even in the article you posted ramu reiterates that he wanted to make something more serious/heavy…

“I feel the cut-off point for that genre was my own film 'Shiva' and Raj Santoshi's films with Sunny Deol. These films had a strong content and message. 'James' became just a comic-book version of those films. That's where it went wrong," Ramu maintained.”

but as far as ‘shiva’ - and what ramu will or will not do, I think we just need to wait until it releases and see

My point is simply that Varma appears to have stated both that James was a failure, and that it was simply "not a success." Either way, the finger of blame must be pointed directly at him, and he himself has conceded this.

Yes, I think Varma will attempt to make a more "serious film" (why is that even important, though? He's certainly made "camp" in the past), but I don't think that that's an assurance of success.

I agree with your final comment. I believe that speculation and prediction are just fine, and that they have their places entirely, but a film can't truly be judged until it is seen. I think Shiv will be mediocre, but I can't know that until I've watched it; not until it's been released, but until I have watched it. I'm quite looking forward to seeing Water, and I think it'll be good, but I can't know that, either, until I see it.

Looks like Shiva is going to have a world premiere here in NYC at the Asian Film Festival that Subway Cinema presents every year in June! They're doing a small retrospective of Varma's films and are trying to persuade him to appear.

http://www.kaijushakedown.com/2006/04/n ... .html#more

Scroll down on this site to see more...for the Varma retro, they're featuring Ab Tak Chhappan, Company, and Ek Hasina Thi.

cool! thats a pretty good line up.. wish I was in ny

hey yuvan dude, here is the latest...


History repeats as Ramu's 'Shiva' competes with SRK's KANK

Joginder Tuteja, IndiaGlitz [Thursday, July 13, 2006]

There is something about a Khan release that never fails to excite Ram Gopal Verma.

Let's go back exactly an year ago when Aamir Khan's 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising' was slated for an August 12 release. While the world was looking forward to this Ketan Mehta historical, Ram Gopal Verma had some other plans as he decided to unleash his 'biggest every star find' Mohit Ahlawat. Though the film was in news for around a couple of years, he chose August 12 as the day when Mohit's debut vehicle 'James' was being readied for an arrival!

The film made instant news, more so when his film's promos came with a promotional campaign centered out 'The Rising Of A New Superstar'. Now this was clearly taking on the elusive Khan. Though it's a different matter that the film eventually was first pushed a week after August 12 and eventually released only on September 16 but the fact remains that the battle lines were clearly drawn.

Now exactly the same feat is being repeated by RGV this August when Shahrukh Khan's 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna' comes on August 11. Though the release date had been finalized weeks back, its only now that the film maker has decided to release Mohit Ahlawat's second film as a lead actor - 'Shiva'. Ironically the film was always being touted as a remake of 'James' [though everyone associated with the film is now denying that]. Also it comes exactly a year after 'James' though RGV is at the helm of direction this time around.

The film now sees a hurried release on August 18, a week after KANK and seems like yet another invitation of a challenge by RGV to King Khan. A point to be noticed is that there are rumors about fallout out between the film maker and the actor after shelving of 'Time Machine', the first film that the two were supposed together.

Another theory making the rounds is this challenge may have to do more with the battle between Yarh Raj Films and RGV's 'Factory' than the RGV-Khan battle. How? Since both 'Mangal Pandey - The Rising' and 'KANK' have the same distributors - Yash Raj Films!

I hope this one sinks YRF! I'm going to take everyone I can to see Shiva I have twice as much riding on this film - my faith in RGV & Maestro. I'm confident that they won't fail me, but I want something the masses can enjoy as well.

thanks for the info. been lookin everywhere for news with no luck. for the time being, I'll go watch the trailer

hehe. I emailed that pic to my friends last night.

anyway, here are some more...

thanks for the link dude, the second trailor looks much more promising than the initial one. I am beginning to think this film cld really kick ass! w/ risk coming out soon, that will make two potential great cop films set to release… I am still not sure which film I am looking forward to more

any trailers of Risk out? I wish him luck. Can't wait to see Randeep again! Don't mind seeing Tanu for the first time. uber hawt

btw, looks like I'll be watching Omkara at the theaters after all. They are playing this one at the local theater, which is surprising since they normally play all the shitty releases. They play one film (daily) a week. This is the indie laemle(sp) theater. it's much better than the dedicated indian theater 50 miles away. sadly though, KANK will run for 2 to 3 weeks leaving no chance for Shiva to exhibited locally